https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPWKZibr-I0
Jimmy Kimmel has been hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live for 14 years now, making him the longest running late night host on broadcast television. He recently sat down with Variety and told them he has an end date in sight. The ABC late night host said, “I know I will do the show for another three years (his contract expires in 2019),” adding, “It’s possible that will be it. My wife’s pregnant. At a certain point, I’d like to have a little more free time. I have very little free time as it is.”
He says he spends 70 hours working on the show a week rewriting the monologue and researching guests. Thus, you can’t blame him for wanting to spend more time with his 2 year old daughter Jane and his future child. Although, since his wife is his the co-head writer, can they afford to both be out of work?
When it comes to ABC letting him go, I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to change things up. Now that Stephen Colbert has seen an upswing in viewers after the inauguration, Jimmy Fallon is still leading the 11:35p hour and Kimmel has stayed in last place, it wouldn’t be shocking if they decided to try something new. Even though he made viral videos a thing with late night TV, Fallon and Corden now own the market. ABC has a lot of people who could fill his shoes, so would you be surprised if they went shoe shopping?
Granted, that could all change if ABC sees a huge ratings increase with the Oscars this Sunday, but with most of the nominees barely being seen by the average movie goer, I doubt it. I wish him luck with that.
