Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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"I was interested in the maintenance man, not the radio guy," says that PM slot. Kimmel is among a new order of hosts who are stepping up to challistener, Adam Carolla, at the time a budding comic performer. "But when lenge the long-standing twin towers of late night, Jay Leno and David I went to the station, the guy walking down the hall was Jimmy." Letterman. Another Jimmy, Fallon, will replace Leno on The Tonight Show The two trained at the Bodies in Motion gym in Pasadena. "We worked in February 2014, in conjunction with NBC's coverage of the Winter on boxing for 20 minutes," recalls Carolla, who was also studying improv Olympics in Sochi, Russia. comedy, had joined the comedy troupe The Groundlings, and was a memAs a late-night ringleader, Kimmel brings a mix of classic and contember of LA's Acme Comedy Theatre. "Then we drank Snapple and talked porary inspirations. "The thing about me is, I came from a radio about Howard Stern for three hours." Kimmel wound up offering Carolla background, not stand-up comedy," he says. "So I love a lot of the people a spot on "Kevin & Bean." who have performed in broadcasting, as well as in stand-up. David "Jimmy is the same off the air as he is on the air," Carolla says. "He can Letterman and Howard Stern were probably my two biggest inspirations be a tough guy to work with, and a tough guy personally, but ultimately he growing up, and Jay Leno was actually one of my favorite comics." is the most generous guy you'll ever want to work with and one of the Carolla has observed Kimmel's ascent to a sort of Letterman-like status hardest-working people you'll ever know. But I'm not going to blow sun- among late-night hosts. "Every once in a while I get caught off-guard," he shine up anyone's butt. He's very dogged, headstrong, and has always says. "I was watching SportsCenter the other night and they ran a quick clip been that way." of Jimmy. He was interviewing Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers pitcher, and Carolla says those traits were evident from the beginning of his friend's the announcer said, 'Last night, Clayton Kershaw was on with Jimmy radio career. "He asked me, 'What's your strength?' and I told him that Kimmel…,' and it's to the point you don't have to say Jimmy has a talk show what I do is improvisational comedy. He said, 'The guys who run the show or say he's a host. It's just the name that's enough, and it didn't used to be are already doing that. They don't want anyone sitting next to them doing that way with him." that on their own show.'" To that point, Kimmel says he isn't So to get on the air, he became Mr. planning on going anywhere anytime Bircham, the grumpy wood-shop teacher, soon. "Hosting a talk show is one of who quickly turned into a fan favorite. those jobs where you don't plan for "That was our first real producer-comic other things after it," he explains. "You collaboration," says Carolla, who atjust keep going as long as you can." tended Kimmel's bachelor party earlier To borrow a Hollywood term, —ADAM CAROLLA this year. "In him, I have always seen a Kimmel is today a star among stars. guy who liked writing, producing, and His July wedding to McNearney, a performing comedy. I love that about co –head writer on his show (he has him, and I just wanted to be around it." two grown children from his first marriage, to Gina Kimmel), drew a bevy of celebs to the ceremony in Ojai, California. Matt Damon showed he rest is comedic history. The two teamed again years later up—he's the subject of a hilarious back-and-forth between Kimmel and while Kimmel was hosting Win Ben Stein's Money, from 1997 ex-girlfriend Sarah Silverman, sparked by Kimmel's running gag at the to 2001, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1999 for best end of each show that he had to bump Damon from the program. Jennifer game show host. That same year, he conceived another Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Emily Blunt, Comedy Central show and invited Carolla aboard as cohost. John Krasinski, and even Howard Stern were also among the 300 guests. But one of the most important attendees was Kimmel's boyhood priest, The Man Show featured quasi-pointless clips of women in bikinis bouncing on trampolines and the ceaseless quaffing of brews from glass mugs. and still a close friend and confidant, Father Bill Kenny of Las Vegas's Holy Predictably, men loved it, causing Kimmel to observe, "I wasn't popular in Spirit Catholic Church, who led the service's final prayer. For Kimmel, the path always winds back to Vegas. He is both a promoter high school, but now every drunken guy in the United States wants to be and defender of the city. my pal. They all want to buy me a shot, and pretty soon I'm throwing up." "I remember when Saturday Night Live made fun of UNLV on the air, and The Man Show trailed only South Park among Comedy Central's highestrated programs and helped make Kimmel a TV star. He soon gravitated to I was angry," he says. "The city gets a bad rap, but I think that's kind of part Fox's Sunday NFL pregame show, predicting the week's results while mak- of the deal when you have a city that's named itself Sin City. But I don't like ing snarky remarks—the ideal role for a budding talk show host from to hear bad things about it. If I were interviewing someone who hates Las Vegas, I probably would try to explain that Las Vegas does extend beyond Vegas—mostly directed at cohosts Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long. ABC had passed on The Man Show, but in 2002 the network signed the Strip, that that's not the whole of it." The whole of it might be embodied by Kimmel himself. Abnormal? Kimmel to host the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He spent 10 years in the 12:35 AM time slot before moving to the more prominent 11:35 Maybe. But in a way that is smart, funny, driven, and wholly Las Vegas. V "In him, I have always seen a guy who liked writing and performing comedy... and I just wanted to be around it." T 96 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 092-097_V_F_CoverStory_Jimmy_Oct13.indd 96 9/17/13 5:47 PM