Thursday, November 16, 2017

On The Air: Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003)

20 years ago, he was just another aspiring comic who'd landed a gig on Comedy Central. Today, he's the longest tenured of the networks' late night hosts, approaching the 15th anniversary of his ABC yak-fest.

Jimmy Kimmel was a relative unknown when Comedy Central brought him in to be the announcer/co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money. While Stein ended up landing an endorsement deal with Visine, Kimmel added a 2nd CC series, The Man Show, to his resume, which he co-produced himself, with co-host/business partner Adam Corolla. The duo were also responsible for Crank Yankers and other CC shows during the period.

In 1999, Kimmel was hired by Fox to be a celebrity handicapper, picking 5 games a week on Fox NFL Sunday, starting a tradition that would continue with Frank Caliendo and, more recently, Rob Riggle. Skits aside, Kimmel turned out to be pretty proficient in picking winners. After 4 seasons, Kimmel left Fox when ABC lured him away with his own late night talk show.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! bowed in January 2003, but the series isn't always live. Like his rivals, Kimmel's show is recorded a few hours prior to broadcast, with live episodes only running on special occasions (Oscar night, NBA Finals, etc.). As the show has evolved, the comedy segments are fundamentally formulaic, especially when it comes to politics. I haven't seen any of the Mean Tweets segments that have been a part of the show the last 5 years, and I don't watch it too often.

Anyway, this choice clip from earlier this week spotlights this week's Dunce Cap Award winners. On Tuesday, Kimmel sent a camera crew out into the streets of Los Angeles to interview ordinary citizens about a certain former Presidential candidate.....



Like, a year later, some of these people have forgotten that Hillary Clinton lost the election, thanks to current President Trump copping the Electoral College vote. They follow the lead of the Chief Wackjob, not realizing you can't impeach someone who's not holding a political office at the present time. Did Kimmel's staff mislead these folks to make the joke work? I can't say for sure, but if you interpret the point of this exercise, it seems they'd be happy if Mrs. Clinton were put on trial for some, if not all, of her alleged crimes.

I guess part of the joke is that in Southern California, being an airhead is part of life.

No rating. We haven't watched enough of the show to merit one.

No comments: