Starting on Tuesday, January 8th Jimmy Kimmel Live is moving to 11:35p on ABC to be head to head to chin against the big guys. Before JKL moves to its new timeslot, it will get a send-off show called Goodbye to Midnight on Monday January 7th at 12m. The special will be a retrospective of the show’s almost (16 days short) 10 years on the air. There are plenty of great moments for them to include in the special that I am glad I don’t have to choose. There was: the time Kimmel hired non-English speaking people to paint his Aunt Chippy’s house bright orange and green, The Killers went on a killing rampage, when he told Melissa Joan Hart she is so 1996, his ex-f*cked Matt Damon so he f*cked Ben Affleck, parents told their kids they ate their Halloween candy, Tom Cruise sent him into a burning house, Donny Osmond got to be evil, the Handsome Men’s Club, many many many unnecessary censorships and so much more. Then there are the interviews with David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, Howard Stern, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, The Twilight cast, The Lost cast and crew, Axl Rose and Matt Damon…oh wait he ran out of time for him.
When the show moves to 11:35p on January 8th, the inaugural show will have two big names christening the earlier timeslot. Jimmy Kimmel will be interviewing Jennifer Aniston and No Doubt will be performing live.
Yesterday I was on a conference call with Jimmy Kimmel and he talked about a big change for the show. Jimmy Kimmel Live will still air new episodes from Monday to Thursday, but then on Friday they are adding a show that will be a compilation of the week’s episodes. I could be wrong, but I can’t remember any other late night show doing that. I think it is a smart move because it will be nice to see the best of the week in just one hour. It’s nice to relive those moments and JKL has a lot of them.
Now there is one thing I want to share with you from the call. I am sure a lot of you have read the comments he made about Jay Leno on it. He did say, “you know, with that said, never count Jay out. He’s a – he’s like Jason in ‘Friday the 13th.’ He seems to pop up just when you think he’s dead. He comes back to life and he’s got a hatchet.” But then he went on to explain, “Well, first of all, I will say that 99 percent of the thinking and talking I do about Jay Leno comes when I’m doing an interview, because, otherwise, I don’t think much about him, and I don’t talk much about him. But people ask me about him constantly and I feel like, there’s nothing I dislike more than a guest that won’t answer the question so I feel compelled to answer questions when I’m asked them. So, it may seem, if you read about me, that I’m obsessed with Jay Leno. I promise you that I’m not.” I just thought I would point that out because there were so many negative responses to his comments. We choose to watch him because he is funny and making fun of people is his job. I am sure Leno would do the same, that is if reporters interviewed him as much as they interview Kimmel. I don’t remember the last time The Tonight Show host was interviewed, do you? But who cares about him, it’s all about Jimmy Kimmel going up against him and his idol/man crush David Letterman starting on January 8th at 11:35p! Mark your calendars because I already did!
