Jimmy Kimmel's Path To Late Night

Fresh Air

NPR

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4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the center of a free speech debate, we're revisiting Kimmel's 2013 interview with Terry Gross. The late night host talked about his David Letterman obsession as a teen and the pressure of putting on a late night show.

Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews House of Guinness, the new Netflix series by Stephen Knight, who brought us the shows Peaky Blinders and A Thousand Blows. Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new action-thriller One Battle After Another, by director Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from the 10% happier podcast.
0:03.4	Dan Harris talks to scientists, meditation gurus, and even the Beastie Boys to explore ways to stress less, focus more, and master happiness.
0:12.5	It's self-help for smart people.
0:14.4	Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:17.2	This is Fresh Air.
0:18.4	I'm TV critic David B & Cooley.
0:20.6	It's been a busy week or so for ABC late-night
0:23.7	talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. After Kimmel made remarks in his monologue about various political
0:29.3	responses to the murder of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump and FCC Commissioner Brendan
0:34.8	Carr complained publicly. ABC affiliate station group owners
0:39.3	Sinclair and Neckstar said they wouldn't carry the show, and ABC responded by announcing
0:44.8	last week that Jimmy Kimmel Live was being taken off the air indefinitely. But after a wave
0:50.8	of support from Hollywood celebrities and threats of boycotts of Disney Plus and Hulu by angry streaming subscribers,
0:58.5	Disney owned ABC reversed course and returned Jimmy Kimmel Live to the airwaves Tuesday night.
1:04.9	Many cities still couldn't see the broadcast because those same ABC affiliate station group owners preempted his show in Seattle,
1:13.1	Portland, New Orleans, Nashville, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. But those who could watch and did
1:20.1	saw Kimmel in fine and feisty form. That same attitude continued Wednesday night when Kimmel's monologue included Trump's social media response to Kimmel's on-air return the night before.
1:32.7	I did hear from one very special friend.
1:35.5	Moments after we taped our show last night, the Mad Red Hatter wrote,
1:39.4	I can't believe ABC fake news gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back.
1:51.7	Yeah. believe ABC fake news gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. You can't believe they gave me my job back. I can't believe we gave you your job back. And in the same monologue, Kimmel explained why he's made so much fun of Donald Trump.
2:02.3	The reason Kimmel said is because he hates bullies.
	...

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