In recent weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about whether Jimmy Kimmel Live! should still be airing on ABC after the talk show's host was suspended by the network. While many people sided with Kimmel after his suspension, his show's reach could still be diminished even after his return. As interesting as it is to consider the potential future of Kimmel's show, looking at its history arguably is just as fascinating.
Now that Kimmel has been a talk show host for more than two decades, it can be easy for fans to feel like he was always destined to be a major television star. In reality, however, Kimmel's career easily could have taken him down a very different route. Not only that, it turns out that Kimmel believes that ABC made a mistake when they hired him to host their late-night talk show.
Jimmy Kimmel thinks Jon Stewart should have hosted ABC's talk show instead of him
In October 2025, Jimmy Kimmel made an appearance on the "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast, which is co-hosted by Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. Since Kimmel appeared during an episode that was hosted by Danson alone, he spoke to the legendary actor for more than an hour. During that discussion, Kimmel told Danson about the origins of his talk show host career.
Before Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered, ABC didn't have a late-night talk show at all. During his podcast appearance, Kimmel explained that when the network decided to start airing a late-night talk show, they originally were interested in hiring Jon Stewart to host.
"They wanted a traditional late-night talk show in that slot, which nobody knew. They were almost about to hire Jon Stewart, and 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."
Fortunately for Kimmel, however, the decision wasn't final and ABC's bosses at the time, Lloyd Braun and Bob Iger, watched a tape of him. Upon watching the footage of Kimmel, ABC's bosses concluded that he might be the person to host the show. As a result, Kimmel was called to meet with them, without realizing that he was even being considered for the job.
"Lloyd watched the 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.' They called me in for a meeting under false pretenses. I didn't know any of it. I knew none of it. And they called me in."
After Kimmel met with the ABC powerbrokers, the decision was ultimately made to give him the talk show. During the podcast appearance, Kimmel explained that the decision put his manager in the awkward position of having to tell one of his clients that the job went to someone else he represented. "It was a very strange thing because Jon and I had the same manager. Now he's in the difficult position of having to tell Jon like, ‘Uh, you're not going to ABC, but Jimmy is going to ABC.’" Then, Kimmel made the surprising remark that he believed that ABC should have hired Stewart instead of him.
"That was a mistake, by the way. They definitely should have hired Jon. If I'm in that position, there's no question, I hire John 100 times out of a 100."
Before Kimmel got his talk show, he was largely known for hosting two other TV series, Win Ben Stein's Money and The Man Show. During his podcast appearance, Kimmel explained that he believed that ABC hiring someone with his track record at the time was a mistake for them. Kimmel then explained that he later asked Bob Iger why they chose him. Instead of being told he was the better host, Kimmel says that he found out ABC chose him because he would host their talk show for less money.
"I [asked Bob Iger], 'What was it? That was quite a leap that you guys made.' I was on The Man Show, I was doing football picks on on Fox NFL Sunday. Like what was it? He goes, 'Well you were cheaper.' And everybody laughed, but I knew he wasn't kidding. So that shows you, sometimes it pays to be cheaper."