Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Silence On Wanting His Show Cancelled

Jimmy Kimmel almost threw in the towel, but for this one thing!

The media personality revealed how his faith in his mission was tested earlier in his television career, when he gave a great deal of thought to walking away from everything.

Jimmy Kimmel recently experienced turbulence in his television career a few weeks ago when the ABC network suspended his show following his commentary on the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

A very candid Kimmel confessed during an appearance on Sirius XM’s “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast that the night when he was alone with his thoughts at the start of his TV career was daunting. 

“I didn’t want to quit because I didn’t want to disappoint all the many people who worked for me, but I couldn’t. I was just, I couldn’t do it anymore,” Kimmel stated, adding that he often prayed they take the show off the air permanently sometimes.

The 57-year-old stated that things got a bit chaotic at the beginning due to a shortage of celebrity guests on the show, which led him to fill the gaps with his friends.

He recalled inviting some personalities more than once or twice, including his ex, Sarah Silverman, as well as fellow comedians Kathy Griffin and Anthony Anderson. As reported by PEOPLE, Kimmel noted that he eventually found his rhythm on the show and has since ferried it towards greatness.

Kimmel, during a sit-down with his pal, Stephen Colbert, shared how things really went down on the home front after the shocking news of his suspension filled the air.

The Blast stated that the media personality had shared how he received the call from the company about his show taking a different route, preferably going off air on that fateful night.

Kimmel recalled the press swarming him all the way home and finally stepping into a space filled with mixed emotions and reactions from his loved ones.

He shared that his daughter even offered to sell some of her expensive toys, and his son appeared rather unbothered by the whole development, out of blissful ignorance.

The days that followed were marked by incredible silence, with no feedback from the media. Kimmel revealed that he mostly had to sit quietly and make dozens of phone calls with this team, probably giving him directives.

While the 57-year-old broke the record for the most viewership on his show with 6.5 million audience on the first night of his return, the momentum failed to sustain a week after the program returned on September 23.

By October, that whooping number had declined to 1.9 million, indicating a 71% drop in his earlier impressive numbers. He experienced a drastic decline to 265,000 among the 25-54 demographic, who surged to 1.7 million on September 23.

Kimmel’s current standing has reportedly shaken up his team, who are now finding every possible way to revive his viewership and save him from the ABC producers’ shears, who may cut him off for good after this.

Kimmel’s misery may be a source of ultimate career fulfilment for one of his numerous talk show rivals, Greg Gutfeld. As reported by The Blast, October started on a very impressive note for Gutfeld, which recorded 2.8 million viewers, compared to Kimmel’s 1.9 million.

Gutfeld’s show, “Gutfeld!”, is an American conservative program that airs on Fox News Channel and debuted in 2015. The political satire talk show has Kat Timpf and Joanne Nosuchinsky as panelists.

As for the highly coveted 25-54 demographic, Gutfeld also edged out Kimmel in that aspect, pulling in 370,000 viewers on October 2, while Kimmel barely cracked 300,000 with just 265,000 viewers.

It is no news that the host and President Trump are far from being friends, with the former taking a swipe at the politician on the night of his return to television. Trump also seemed to take pleasure in Kimmel’s brief downfall when he was suspended.

Despite this tension in their relationship, Kimmel shockingly expressed his readiness to welcome Trump on the show and ask him a few questions. The president’s presence on the show toppled any preference for Brendan Carr, whom he clowned alongside Robert De Niro on his return night.

“I’d love to have Trump on the show, for sure… I feel like he knows that. Alright, yeah, I’ll ask him,” Kimmel declared. However, the receiving party was less impressed by Kimmel’s grand gesture, which White House rep Abigail Jackson described as an utter waste of time.

“Reacting to anything Jimmy Kimmel says would require me to watch his show, and I have much more entertaining things to do, like watch paint dry,” Jackson emphasized.

Jimmy Kimmel has truly come a long way!