Late-night television is entering a very uncertain era, and Jimmy Kimmel is not hiding the fact that he’s thinking hard about what comes next.
The longtime ABC host is opening up about his future following the recent end of Stephen Colbert’s run at CBS, and his comments are raising eyebrows across Hollywood. After more than two decades behind the desk of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the comedian appears to be seriously weighing whether his own exit could be closer than fans realize.
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Speaking candidly about the cancellation of Colbert’s show in a brand-new interview with Vulture that was published on Monday, Kimmel admitted that the news hit him harder than many people may have expected, saying:
“I feel a little bit defeated by it.”
Oof.
That is not exactly the reaction of someone who thinks everything is business as usual in the late-night world!
In fact, Kimmel went even further by revealing that Colbert’s situation forced him to take a hard look at his own future. He noted:
“In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future.”
Yikes…
For years, critics have been predicting the downfall of traditional late-night television. But Kimmel isn’t buying the argument that audiences have simply disappeared. Instead, he pointed to the massive digital audiences that hosts now attract through clips, interviews, and viral moments online. He said:
“There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were, if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings.”
Still, he suggested that the industry is facing challenges that go beyond changing viewer habits. He cryptically stated:
“We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”
Ya hear that, Donald Trump?? Something tells us what was aimed at you…
And obviously, that’s a pretty dramatic statement — and one that will undoubtedly get people talking.
As for what happens next, Kimmel says he genuinely doesn’t know whether he’ll renew his contract when it expires in 2027. While some stars might choose to go out with fireworks and controversy, he says that isn’t his style, as he noted:
“It’s important to me to be responsible. I know I could go out in a blaze of glory and get a lot of applause for it, but it would be a very selfish thing to do.”
The surprising part? Kimmel admits he has absolutely no concrete professional plans for life after late-night television. Instead, his dream sounds remarkably simple:
“Freedom is what I want more than anything. I want to be able to go fishing because the fishing’s good.”
Honestly, after decades of nightly television, that sounds pretty appealing!
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Adding even more fuel to the retirement speculation, Kimmel’s longtime producer Erin Irwin revealed to the very same outlet in that piece that conversations about stepping away have been happening for quite some time behind the scenes. Seriously?! Ugh!
While she’d love to see Kimmel continue through the next presidential election cycle, she acknowledged there may be a major obstacle standing in the way. She summed all that up with two words, too:
“He’s tired.”
Ugh.
But really, who could blame him?
Kimmel has been a fixture of late-night television since 2003, surviving industry shakeups, political battles, changing viewing habits, and endless headlines. But with Colbert’s departure still fresh in everyone’s minds, questions about the future of the genre are becoming impossible to ignore.
And at this point, with one late-night giant already gone and another now clearly and openly contemplating retirement, fans are left wondering whether an entire chapter of television history could be nearing its final curtain.
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[Image via MEGA/WENN/Jimmy Kimmel Live/The Late Show/YouTube]
