Jimmy Kimmel, Emmy hero
Late-night talk-show host is coming into his own as he readies for awards gig
The Emmys will be broadcast live Sunday on CTV and ABC at 8 p.m.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — “I’m late-night’s hottest hero,” Jimmy Kimmel said, of hosting this weekend’s 64th Primetime Emmy Awards at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre. Kimmel’s idea of a perfect Sunday night has more to do with resting at home in bed. He has a nightly, mid-week late-night talk show to host, after all — and a man needs to catch up on his sleep.
Still, when Hollywood comes calling, it’s no time to pull a Greta Garbo — especially when you earn a living talking to many of those Hollywood celebrities on a late-night talk show.
Besides, hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live will give Kimmel an insider’s edge when it comes to deflating those same egos and moving the show along.
“It’s human nature,” Kimmel told reporters. “You’re able to make a little bit more fun of them, without them getting angry.”
Kimmel hosted this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner — a gig, he admitted, that proved more nerve-racking than he expects the Emmys to be.
“I almost threw up that afternoon, before hosting the White House dinner,” he said. “That audience is very different. I didn’t know whether they would laugh or get angry, and in the end I think they did a bit of both. Ultimately, I’m more comfortable in front of an audience of fellow shallow Hollywood stars.”
Kimmel didn’t learn much from hosting the White House correspondents’ shindig, he said, other than one thing.
“I learned that the president is a little bit funni- er than I am. Other than that, no, not really.”
Kimmel is not Ricky Gervais, but he does have a reputation for parodying his “fellow shallow Hollywood stars” on occasion. His annual post-show Oscar parody has become cult fare and appointment television for latenight movie buffs.
Sunday’s Emmy telecast will be directed from the booth by long-time Oscar veteran Don Mischer.
“Obviously, I don’t want to say what we’re going to do,” Kimmel told PostmediaNews, when asked if part of his plan on live television was to give Mischer a heart attack.
“I think we have something special planned,” Kimmel continued. “And Don has promised not to have a heart attack before the show.”
Kimmel has quietly become more mainstream in recent years. There was a time — his Man Show period — when it seemed as if he was performing on comedy’s fringes.
Whether Kimmel matured, or whether the audience became more receptive to his brand of humour, is a chicken-or-egg conundrum, Kimmel said.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s more like the sad kid outside the house where the party is happening, and they go, ‘All right, come in and have a drink.’ I don’t know that the world has come closer to my humour. I think it’s just attrition more than anything. I think if you hang in there long enough, eventually you’re part of the group.”
In a show of confidence, ABC will move Jimmy Kimmel Live ahead to 11:35 p.m. starting in January, where it will go head-to-head for the first time against NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and CBS’s The Late Show With David Letterman. CTV airs The Tonight Show on CTV Two, and Rogers Communications airs The Late Show on its Omni channels.
Kimmel knows not to bring too much of his late-night persona to his hosting duties. Letterman famously had trouble hosting the Oscars in 1995 after his characteristically irreverent and absurdist comedy routine fell flat on some ears.
“I operate under the presumption that no one has ever seen my (late-night) show,” Kimmel said. “I thought David Letterman was great when he hosted the Oscars. But I was very familiar with his show, and I loved seeing elements of his show worked into the program. That said, I understand I’m there to host the Emmys. It’s not an extension or expansion of my show.
“I think what you’re asking is, will Guillermo be there? No, he will not be invited.”
Kimmel was passed over the last time ABC televised the Emmys, in 2008. The network chose to go with a committee of reality-TV hosts instead: Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst and Ryan Seacrest. The telecast was an unmitigated disaster and earned a spot on TV Guide’s 2011 list of “25 Biggest TV Blunders.”
“I wasn’t ticked off, to be honest with you,” Kimmel said, of being overlooked that year. “I actually took some satisfaction from it because everyone, especially you guys, seemed to hate how the broadcast came out, and I was able to look good by not doing anything at all. That’s my goal in life, by the way.”