Jimmy Kimmel thinks ABC made 'mistake' hiring him over Jon Stewart
Jimmy Kimmel has insisted ABC bosses should have hired Jon Stewart instead when they launched Jimmy Kimmel Live! over two decades ago.
Jimmy Kimmel thinks Jon Stewart should have got his job on ABC.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host - whose show launched in January 2003 - has revealed the network almost hired the current Daily Show star before changing their minds, but he thinks bosses made a "mistake".
He told the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast: "That was a mistake by the way. They definitely should’ve hire Jon.
"If I’m in that position, there’s no question I hire Jon 100 times out of a 100."
Jimmy explained how bosses were "about to hire Jon Stewart" because the sudden change.
He recalled: “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. And Lloyd [Braun, an ABC chairman,] 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.’ ”
The host admitted the situation was "very strange" considering both potential presenters had the same manager, which created an awkward situation.
He said: "Because Jon and I had the same manager, now [Dixon’s] in the difficult position of having to tell Jon, ‘Uh, you’re not going to ABC, but Jimmy is going to ABC.'"
Jimmy recalled speaking to Walt Disney Company boss Bob Iger himself about the decision.
He added: "What was it, like why — this is quite a leap that you guys made. I was on The Man Show, I was doing football picks on Fox NFL Sunday — what was it?’
"He goes, ‘Well, you were cheaper.’ And everybody laughed, but I knew he wasn’t kidding.”
There has been no bad blood between the two, as Jon was among those to celebrate Jimmy getting reinstated after ABC suspended his show last month over a comment he made about the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Speaking on The Daily Show, he said: "I'll tell you, Jimmy Kimmel's flying high like Advil today.
"I want to say this seriously, that campaign that you all launched, pretending that you were going to cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building, that really worked. Congratulations."
He then joked: "Wasn't it interesting to try and figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life? It's one thing to swear off cruises, but The Avengers? Nah."
