Kimmel signs 3-year contract
Lynn Elber, The Associated Press – Sep 20, 2022 / 12:56 pm | Story: 386099
Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – Jimmy Kimmel will appear at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday, September 12, 2022. Kimmel celebrates his 20th birthday as ABC’s late night host early and signs a three-year contract extension for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” His show debuted in January 2003, and the new deal means he will stay with it through the 2025-26 season (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
Jimmy Kimmel early celebrated his 20th birthday as ABC’s late night host and signed a three-year contract extension for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“After two decades at ABC, I’m now looking forward to three years of what they call ‘quiet quits,'” Kimmel joked in a statement on Tuesday.
His show debuted in January 2003, and the new deal means he’ll stay with it through the 2025-26 season — giving him a generous chance to make comic hay from politicians, who are favorite monologue targets, and the presidential election of 2024.
Among the network’s late-night hosts, Kimmel, CBS’ Stephen Colbert and James Corden, and NBC’s Seth Meyers regularly wade in political humor, highlighting Kimmel during the Donald Trump years inside and outside the White House.
Kimmel’s decision is in stark contrast to changes in nighttime programming. Conan O’Brien closed his show in 2021, Corden announced he’s leaving “The Late Late Show” next year for other opportunities, and TBS said “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” would end after seven seasons.
In addition to his night job, Kimmel has become a mainstay hosting the awards ceremony — including for the 2017 Oscars when he tried to smooth out the best photo-envelope mix-up that led presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to perform “La La Land.” falsely announcing it as the winner of “Moonlight.”