Jimmy Kimmel almost lost his ABC gig to Jon Stewart

Jimmy Kimmel is perhaps one of the most iconic late-night talk show hosts in the country. Rivaled by few, he got his big break on ABC in 2003. However, he almost lost his position to another host of the same caliber, and it’s baffling why he beat him to it.

He revealed to Ted Danson on his podcast, Where everyone knows your nameas Jon Stewart (The daily show) was also a candidate for what is today called Jimmy Kimmel Live! He said he was shocked he managed to land the spot because of Stewart’s success in 2003.

Kimmel explained that they had the same manager, James Dixon, who was close to closing the deal for Stewart with ABC. But at the very last minute, ABC president Lloyd Braun decided to watch his tape and liked it enough to show his audition to Bob Iger. Both agreed that Kimmel was the right person for the job, and the rest is history.

Jon and I have the same manager, James “Baby Doll” Dixon, and James was close to making a deal for Jon to host the show… [ABC chairman Lloyd Braun] I looked at my tape and he said, “I think that might be the guy.” And he took the tape to Bob Iger, and Iger said, “Yeah, I think that might be the guy.” It was a very strange thing because [James] was in the difficult position of having to tell Jon, “Um, you’re not going to ABC, but Jimmy is going to ABC.”

He was so shocked that ABC chose him over someone as well-known as Stewart that he asked Iger for an explanation. He replied jokingly: “Well, you were cheaper.” And Kimmel said that although everyone laughed at his answer, he thought it was most likely true.

I said, “What was that, why?” This is a big step you have taken. I was on The Man Show, doing football picks on Fox NFL Sunday – what was that? He said, “Well, you were cheaper. » And everyone laughed, but I knew he wasn’t joking.

Kimmel added that he personally thought ABC made a mistake hiring him and that they definitely should have gone with Stewart because that’s exactly what he would have done. “It was actually a mistake. They should definitely hire Jon. If I’m in this position, there’s no question I’d hire John 100 times out of 100,“, he explained.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs new episodes weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET and 8:35 p.m. PT on ABC.