The Late-Night Shake-Up ABC Almost Made: How Jimmy Kimmel Nearly Lost His Seat to Jon Stewart.NH
Jennifer is a TV News Editor at ScreenRant. She started her journey in entertainment media in 2022 when she first joined Valnet at CBR before coming to ScreenRant.
Jennifer loves TV, especially science fiction. She also loves late-night talk shows, due to her insomnia. Alien: Earth is definitely one of her favorite shows, and she jumps on any chance she gets to write about it. Even on her days off, she will claim an Alien Earth article if one is available.
Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are two of her favorite late-night hosts, and Conan O’Brien before he left his show.
Her Alien: Earth coverage for Screen Rant is by far the work that she is most proud of so far.
She began her career as an editor in 2014. She was initially a finance editor, but her passion for pop culture convinced her to transition into entertainment journalism.
During her off time, she loves to binge-watch cooking shows such as Kitchen Nightmares. Jennifer also loves spending time with her daughter and cherishes every moment of it.
He revealed to Ted Danson on his podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, that Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) was also a candidate for what is now known as Jimmy Kimmel Live! He stated that he was shocked that he managed to snatch the spot due to how successful Stewart already was in 2003.
Kimmel explained how they had the same manager, James Dixon, who was just about to close the deal for Stewart with ABC. But, at the very last minute, ABC chairman Lloyd Braun decided to watch his tape and liked him enough to show his audition to Bob Iger. Both agreed that Kimmel was the right fit for the job, and the rest is history.
Jon and I have the same manager, James ‘Baby Doll’ Dixon, and James was about to close this deal for Jon to host the show… [ABC chairman Lloyd Braun] watched my tape, and he was like, ‘I think this might be the guy.’ And he brought the tape to Bob Iger, and Iger said, ‘Yeah, I think this might be the guy.’ It was a very strange thing because [James] was in the difficult position of having to tell Jon, ‘Uh, you’re not going to ABC, but Jimmy is going to ABC.’
He was so shocked that ABC chose him over someone as well-known as Stewart that he asked Iger for an explanation. He jokingly responded with, “Well, you were cheaper.” And, Kimmel stated that while everyone laughed at his answer, he believed that it was most likely true.
Kimmel added that he personally thought that ABC made a mistake by hiring him and that they definitely should have picked Stewart because that’s exactly what he would have done. “That was a mistake, by the way. They definitely should hire Jon. If I’m in that position, there’s no question I hire John 100 times out of 100,” he explained.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs new episodes on weeknights at 11:35 PM ET and 8:35 PM PT on ABC.
