Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the neighborhood of Mill Basin.[3] He is the eldest of three children of Joan (Iacono) and James John Kimmel, who worked at American Express and was an IBM executive.[5][6][7]
He was raised Catholic and as a child, was an altar boy.[8][9] Kimmel's mother is of Italian descent; her grandparents migrated to the United States from Ischia, Naples after the 1883 earthquake.[10][11] Two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were German immigrants. His family's surname was "Kümmel" ("caraway" in German) several generations back.[12][13][14][15] According to a DNA test, Kimmel is also of partial Albanian descent.[16]
Kimmel's uncle, Frank Potenza ("Uncle Frank"), appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.[19] His cousin Sal Iacono performed Kimmel's former co-hosting duties during the last season of Win Ben Stein's Money and then became a writer and sketch performer on Jimmy Kimmel Live![20] His Aunt Chippy (Concetta Potenza) is also a featured part of the show. His brother Jonathan works on the show as a director. His sister, Jill, is a comedian.
Career
Radio career
Inspired by David Letterman's start in radio, Kimmel began working in radio while in high school. He was the host of a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station, KUNV.[21] While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Over the next 10 months, the hosts performed several stunts on air, including one that led to an $8,000 loss in advertising.[22][23]
In 1990, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa. Kimmel went on to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where he recruited as his intern Carson Daly, who had been a family friend since his childhood.[24] After a morning stint at KRQQ in Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During that time he met and befriended the comedian Adam Carolla.[25]
Comedy Central
Kimmel initially did not want to do television; he began writing for Fox announcers and promotions and was quickly recruited to do the on-air promotions himself. He declined several offers for television shows from producer Michael Davies, being uninterested in the projects, until he was offered a place as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and "everyman" personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotonous vocal style and faux-patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.[21]
In 1999, during his time on Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel co-hosted (with Adam Carolla) and co-produced (with Daniel Kellison), Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001 and was replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla, and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Productions, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself) and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, Festival Prize winner of the Comedia Award for Best Film at the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival.
In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on ABC. In April 2007, Stuffmagazine.com named Kimmel the "biggest badass on TV." Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.
Despite its name, the show has not actually aired live since 2004, when censors were unable to properly bleep censor a barrage of swearing from actor Thomas Jane.[26]
During the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized.[27]
Kimmel usually ends his show with "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time." When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Unfortunately, we are totally out of time," followed by "my apologies to Matt Damon." Damon appeared angry but both performers have since indicated that their faux-feud is a joke.[28]
After this, Kimmel's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon, who was cursing about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and, before he could finish the interview, said, "Sorry, we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with the "Handsome Men", who were: Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, Patrick Dempsey, Sting, Keith Urban, John Krasinski, Ethan Hawke, Josh Hartnett, Tony Romo, Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, Gilles Marini, and Ben Affleck speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit, Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by Damon, who says they have run out of time and laughs sinisterly. Jennifer Garner also makes a surprise appearance. As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell."
In October 2013, a new segment of the show, "Kids Table", showcased five- and six-year-olds discussing the U.S. government shutdown and U.S. debts. When one of the children suggested "killing all the people in China" as a way of resolving the U.S. debt, Kimmel responded that that was "an interesting idea" and soon jokingly asked a followup: "Should we allow the Chinese to live?"[31] The incident triggered discussions and protests on the internet, even from Mainland China. In an October 25 letter to a group called the 80-20 Initiative, which identifies itself as a pan-Asian-American political organization, ABC apologized for the segment, saying "We would never purposefully broadcast anything to upset the Chinese community, Asian community, anyone of Chinese descent or any community at large."[31][32] More than a hundred people took to the streets in San Francisco on October 28 to protest the show and demand "a more elaborate apology" and that Kimmel be fired.[32] On that day's broadcast, Kimmel addressed the controversy personally, saying: "I thought it was obvious that I didn't agree with that statement, but apparently it wasn't ... So I just wanted to say, I'm sorry, I apologize."[33] Despite the apologies from ABC and Kimmel, protests continued. A White House petition was created to investigate the incident and reached the 100,000 signatures needed to require a response from the White House.[34] The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus denounced the incident and demanded a formal apology from ABC.[35]
During a November 2022 appearance on Stitcher's "Naked Lunch" podcast, Kimmel revealed he told ABC executives, soon after the election of Donald Trump, that if he could not tell Trump jokes, then he would leave the show. Kimmel also indicated the executives were correct, and he lost approximately half of his audience during that time.[36]
In August 2006, ABC announced that Kimmel would be host of their new game show Set for Life.[37] The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular broadcast dealt with paparazzi. Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor at Gawker.com, for the site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (in Houston and Pittsburgh, respectively). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel, along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC five times, in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Kimmel guest-hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22–26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness World Record for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059km)) traveled in one work week.[38] Kimmel himself has questioned the record, suggesting that a world leader or the Pope must actually hold the record.[39]
Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield: The Movie and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono has accepted and won a wrestling match with Santino Marella.
On January 14, 2010, amid the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone", as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".[40]
In June 2018, Kimmel was challenged by U.S. SenatorTed Cruz to a one-on-one basketball game after Kimmel compared Cruz's appearance to that of a blobfish. Kimmel accepted and the game (known as the Blobfish Basketball Classic) was scheduled to take place at Texas Southern University on June 16, with the loser donating $5,000 to the non-political charity of the winner's choice.[48] Cruz defeated Kimmel 11–9, and over $80,000 was raised from the game and donated to the charities.[49]
In November 2018, Kimmel launched his second production company, Kimmelot.[50]
Kimmel was the host and co-executive producer of a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which premiered for the show's 20th anniversary in 2020 and ran until 2021. It premiered on April 8, 2020, on ABC.[51] In June 2020, it was announced that Kimmel would return to host the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 2020.[52]
Books
In July 2019, Kimmel released his first book, The Serious Goose, an interactive children's picture book featuring his own illustrations that tasks readers with helping to make the serious goose smile.[53]
Kimmel's biggest influences in comedy are David Letterman and Howard Stern.[57][58] Kimmel has said of Letterman, "His show was just so weird and different. I'd never seen anything like it. I didn't know anyone who had a sense of humor like that."[59] Kimmel has often joked that the only reason he got into show business was to be friends with Letterman; he has also questioned why anybody would watch his show instead of Letterman's.[60]
Kimmel wrote a piece for Time about his love for Letterman, saying:
As I write this, there are only ten shows left before the funniest, most inventive and smartest man who ever wore an Alka Seltzer suit goes fishing for good. None of us who discovered Dave on our own and claimed him as our own will ever be able to satisfactorily explain to the younger people who didn't what he did, what he meant and what he means. I guess it doesn't matter. It's only an exhibition, not a competition. Thanks Dave. For whatever it's worth, you're my favorite.[61]
Kimmel is a practicing Catholic.[62] He has spoken publicly about having narcolepsy.[63]
Kimmel married Gina Maddy in 1988; they divorced in 2002.[64] Their daughter Katherine was born in 1991 and their son Kevin was born in 1993.[65][1] He had a relationship with comedian Sarah Silverman from 2002 to March 2009.[66]
Kimmel started dating Molly McNearney, a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live, in October 2009.[67] They were engaged in August 2012[64][68] and married in July 2013.[69] Their daughter Jane was born in July 2014.[70]
Their second child, William "Billy" John, was born on April 21, 2017.[71] He was born with a rare congenital heart defect,[72]tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with pulmonary atresia,[73][74] which was first detected when he had a purplish appearance at three hours after birth. He underwent successful surgery at three days of age.[75][76] The first guests Kimmel had when his show returned following his son's birth were cardiac surgeonMehmet Oz, who explained the condition,[77] and snowboarder Shaun White, who was born with TOF.[78] Kimmel later cited his son's condition in a monologue criticizing a previous guest, Senator Bill Cassidy, who had co-authored a congressional healthcare bill, for not living up to the "Jimmy Kimmel test" regarding access for patients with preexisting conditions. The monologue was widely discussed as part of the wider debate about the American healthcare system.[79][80][81]
Kimmel co-founded the annual Los Angeles Feast of San Gennaro, a New York City annual tradition, and co-hosted the eighth annual Los Angeles version in 2009.[84]
In 2018, he fundraised for Nevada U.S. Senate candidate (and eventual Senator) Jacky Rosen.[85]
Matthew Paige Damon is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among Forbes' most bankable stars in 2007, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North American box office, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received various awards and nominations, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, sometimes shortened to JKL, is an American late-night political satire talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show is held at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California. It debuted on January 26, 2003 as part of ABC's lead-out programming for Super Bowl XXXVII. For its first ten years, Jimmy Kimmel Live! aired at either the midnight or 12:05 a.m. ET/PT before moving to 11:35 p.m. on January 8, 2013. Despite its name, the show has not regularly aired live since 2004, when censors were unable to properly bleep censor a barrage of swearing from actor Thomas Jane.
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Sal Iacono, also known as Cousin Sal, is an American comedian, writer, podcaster, and game show host. He is known for his roles on The Man Show and the late night television show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He is Jimmy Kimmel's cousin, hence his nickname Cousin Sal.
Sara Hilary Haines is an American television host and journalist. She is known as one of the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk shows The View and Strahan, Sara and Keke and the host of The Chase. She has also worked as a correspondent on Today, ABC News, and Good Morning America.
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The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2011 until May 31, 2012, were held on Sunday, September 23, 2012 at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. ABC televised the ceremony in the United States. Comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Primetime Emmys for the first time. Kimmel and Kerry Washington announced the nominations on July 19, 2012. Nick Offerman was originally scheduled to co-announce the nominations, but had to cancel due to travel delays. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 15 and was televised on September 22, 2012 on ReelzChannel.
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The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was originally to be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead hosted from the Staples Center, while winners gave speeches remotely from their homes or other locations. It aired live on September 20, 2020, following the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14–17 and 19. During the ceremony, Emmy Awards were handed out in 23 categories. The ceremony was produced by Done and Dusted, directed by Hamish Hamilton, and broadcast in the United States by ABC. Jimmy Kimmel served as host for the third time.
The Damon–Kimmel feud is a satirical public feud between actor Matt Damon and television host Jimmy Kimmel. The feud has garnered nationwide coverage since 2005, when Kimmel ended a season 3 episode of his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, by jokingly saying "Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time" when Damon was not scheduled to be on the show at all. In the years since, Damon and Kimmel have treated the feud as a running gag, often enlisting the help of other celebrities to prank each other publicly, many of which take place on Kimmel's show.
↑ "Jimmy Kimmel Biography". Yahoo! TV. Archived from the original on October 13, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2010. Jimmy Kimmel, was born on November 13, 1967, in Brooklyn, NY to devoutly Catholic parents who made sure that Kimmel served as an altar boy, ...
↑ "Jimmy Kimmel, GQ e Ischia". Il Dispari Quotidiano (in Italian). January 2018. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
↑ "Jimmy Kimmel Defends His Catholic Faith Against Attack from Roy Moore". ChurchPOP. December 7, 2017. Archived from the original on February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020. Kimmel was raised Catholic, was an altar server, and says he is a practicing Catholic. However, he publicly supports things contrary to Catholic teaching, such as same-sex marriage.
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