“We want to stay in business with Jimmy Kimmel” – Deadline

Jimmy Kimmel has whirled the late-night gossip mill after revealing he’s not sure if he’ll continue to host his nightly talk show after his current contract ends.

Kimmel told Howard Stern last week he was “hesitant” about the decision.

ABC, however, is keen on keeping the comedian in place, especially since Jimmy Kimmel Live! had one of its best seasons, placing second behind CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and beat NBC Tonight’s Show with Jimmy Fallon in demo 18-49 for the first time.

Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, told Deadline: “First of all, we want to stay in business with Jimmy for many years to come. He’s the king of the late night, he’s the longest-serving host of all of today’s late night shows. He had a really good year last year, beating Fallon in 18-49 adults for the very first time, so as long as Jimmy wants to be on ABC, we’d love to have him.

It is understood that Kimmel’s contract ends next summer and if he decides to leave, the network will have to find a way to replace him. This is a particularly difficult trick given that the name of the show doesn’t necessarily allow a new host in the same way as The late show and Tonight’s show do, and ABC has no one following Kimmel like Seth Meyers and James Corden do for Fallon and Colbert, respectively.

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This is not the first time that Kimmel has considered retiring from the series. In 2019, he revealed that he had been thinking about leaving but that ABC bosses persuaded him to return for another three years, taking the series to 20 seasons.

He then told Deadline, “I was seriously considering – I don’t know if you would say it was really retirement because I would always do something. Work was a chore, but I really love Karey [Burke], Dana [Walden] and Pierre [Rice], and they came up with… I felt appreciated, and that’s important even if you have a job that people see as glamorous, you want to feel like the company is behind you and me, and that’s was a big part of it. Also, many of my relatives would be unemployed if I quit the show. “

Kimmel also stepped up his production business Kimmelot, a business with Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse, with programs such as ABC’s Live in front of a studio audience and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Comedy Central’s Crank yankers as well as his latest project, ESPN’s 30 for 30 New York Mets Documentary Series Once upon a time in Queens.