Earlier this year, Jimmy Kimmel celebrated the 20th anniversary of his late-night talk show by having three of the guests who appeared on the very first episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live return: George Clooney, Snoop Dogg, and Coldplay. There was one aspect of that 2003 taping, though, that Kimmel, 55, and his team definitely did not want to replicate. Jimmy Kimmel Net Worth
“Someone in the third row vomited right in the middle of the show,” says the comedian and host. “It’s funny because we’ve always assumed she was drunk, but I recently watched a tape of the first show and I’m not so sure. She may have just been reacting to the production itself.”
In March, Kimmel—who reportedly has a net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth—hosts the Oscars for the third time. Following last year’s infamous slap and the “La La Land” and “Moonlight” best-picture mix-up that happened when he hosted in 2017, Kimmel concedes it’s impossible to anticipate what could go wrong. “You really can’t have a plan, because you don’t know what’s going to go off the rails,” he says. “The only plan I have is to make sure to get up there onstage quickly.”
Kimmel, who was born and raised in Brooklyn before moving with his family to Las Vegas at age 9, got his start in radio and as a host on Comedy Central. These days, he lives in Hollywood with his wife, Molly McNearney, who’s the co–head writer of Jimmy Kimmel Live, and their kids, Jane, 8, and Billy, 5. He also has Katie, 31, and Kevin, 29, with his ex-wife, designer Gina Maddy-Kimmel. Here, he speaks to WSJ. about his backstage superstitions and what disappointed President Obama when he appeared on Kimmel’s popular “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment.
Here are a few things Jimmy Kimmel revealed to WSJ. Magazine…
On what time he gets up on Mondays, and the first thing he does:
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We get up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:03 a.m., depending upon when our 5-year-old comes running into our room, and I mean running. He does not walk ever. We hear his little footsteps pounding down the hall, and he comes in and jumps right in the bed…. I’ll make waffles or pancakes for the kids just about every morning. On Sunday night, I prepare a batch of batter that will last us through the week. Then I yell at the kids to eat for the next 40 minutes. Jimmy Kimmel Net Worth
On what he does for exercise:
Nothing is the answer, really. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about playing pickleball, which I’ve never done. Right now, exercise is zero.
On his pre-show ritual, which he does at the Oscars:
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We have a chant every night right before the show. It’s a different chant that ends with the words, “Best show ever.” We’ve been doing it for at least 17 years. It’s usually some inside joke about somebody we work with. One of the writers writes the chant. And I go and I fist-bump everyone as I walk downstairs in a very OCD fashion: I have to make sure my knuckles touch everyone’s knuckles. That’s the primary ritual. I do it at the Oscars. I do it at everything I do.
On whether any celebrity has been truly hurt by the comments they read for his “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment:
President Obama in particular was disappointed that the batch of tweets we selected for him weren’t meaner. They’d been sanitized somewhat by his staff, and he was hoping for meaner stuff, which we did have, but they didn’t want us to hand them to him.
On his most prized possession:
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David Letterman sent me all his ties when he retired.
On what he’s reading (as recommended by his friend, Howard Stern):
I just read this book I’ve heard Howard Stern talking about for years, by a doctor named John E. Sarno, Healing Back Pain. It tells you in detail that a lot of the pain you experience is generated by the brain to distract you from anger, stress, psychological trauma you haven’t dealt with. I read it in detail—I took notes and highlighted things—and I’ll be damned if my back pain hasn’t gone away.
On what he has splurged on to be more productive:
I have a treadmill desk that I never get on. There’s a pile of books on this $3,000 treadmill desk that I don’t use.
On the advice he’s gotten from television hosts that have guided him:
Regis [Philbin] told me you make the first segment of the show your own. The rest of the show is about the guests, but the first segment is you. The other piece of advice I got was from Don Rickles. I used to come out before the show and I’d chitchat with the audience for a while before the show started. He hated that; he told me to stop doing that. He told me the first time the audience should see me is when my name is announced. So now I do the chitchatting after the monologue. Billy Crystal also gave me great advice about the Oscars, and it may seem obvious, and that’s to make the people in the room laugh. If you get the people in the room, it’ll go well. Jimmy Kimmel Net Worth
Read the full article here.
Features Image: ERIC RAY DAVIDSON/TRUNK ARCHIVE VIA WSJ. MAGAZINE
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