The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host appeared on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast Wednesday, where he recounted his pathway to securing the gig. He shared that ABC was “about to hire Jon Stewart” when they made a sudden pivot.
“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,” he said. “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.’”
Kimmel admitted “it was a very strange…
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