Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967), known simply as Jimmy Kimmel, is an American television talk-show host and comedian. He was born in Brooklyn, New York to devoutly Catholic parents who made sure that he served as an altar boy, but he grew up primarily in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kimmel is a big David Letterman fan. As a teenager, he threw Late Night parties and was known in high school as "the kid who liked David Letterman." Kimmel had planned on being an artist; but when he found out that Letterman started his career in radio, Kimmel decided to pursue a career in radio.
Kimmel began his radio career in Phoenix, Arizona by phoning in to Mike Elliot and Kent Voss, for the KZZP afternoon show. Then Kimmel worked at KZOK in Seattle, Washington with Voss as co-host of The Me and Him Show. Kimmel was fired after ten months. After leaving Seattle, Kimmel got another radio job at WRBQ in Tampa Bay, where he was also fired and then in Palm Springs, California at KCMJ-FM. In Palm Springs, Kimmel convinced Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. Kimmel took a job at 93.7 KRQ in Tucson, where he was once again fired. Kimmel went to the Kevin and Bean morning show at Los Angeles radio icon KROQ, where he was known as "Jimmy the Sports Guy" for five years.
Kimmel began his television career as the co-host of the game show Win Ben Stein's Money on Comedy Central in 1997, for which Kimmel won an Emmy. When he left, he was replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental and then Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. Kimmel served as the co-host and co-creator (with Adam Carolla and Daniel Kellison) of The Man Show from 1999 until 2003, when Kimmel left to do a talk show at ABC. Comedy Central continued the show with new hosts Joe Rogan and Doug Stanhope. The ratings plummeted with their departure, and The Man Show was cancelled after the first season with the new hosts. For four years, Kimmel served as on-air football prognosticator for FOX NFL Sunday. Kimmel and Carolla's success with The Man Show allowed them to create and produce another TV show named Crank Yankers for the Comedy Central cable network.
In January 2003, Kimmel made the leap to his own five-night-a-week talk show on a broadcast network called Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, which airs following Nightline. One of Kimmel's regular guests on the show, besides his uncle Frank and his cousin Sal, was Andy Milonakis, who now has his own show on MTV which was created by and is produced by Kimmel.
Trivia
- Kimmel also co-wrote and produced a film called Windy City Heat.
- Kimmel is divorced from his first wife Gina, a Polish-American, with whom he has two children, Kevin and Katie. Kimmel's family made numerous guest appearances on the first season of The Man Show.
- Jimmy once ate a entire 6 foot long sub-sandwich in under 7 minutes on the man show
- Kimmel's younger brother, Jonathan Kimmel, is a writer for South Park and co-executive producer of The Andy Milonakis Show.
- Kimmel is of German, Irish, and primarily Italian descent[citation needed].
- Kimmel suffers from narcolepsy.
- Kimmel has twice performed voice-overs for animated series opposite his close friend Adam Carolla: as Death's dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight" opposite Carolla as Death, and in the Drawn Together episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" as the wife of Spanky Ham opposite Carolla as Spanky.
- Credits Howard Stern as being a big influence and one of the reasons Kimmel decided to enter the radio industry.
- Has appeared on the Howard Stern Show often with and without Adam Carolla.
- His Uncle Frank is a regular on the show, and his Aunt Chippie, who is Uncle Frank's ex wife, also features on the show from time to time.
- His cousin, Sal Iacono, also works on the show.
- Is a huge fan of Lost and often talks about it on his show.
- Made a guest appearance on Entourage playing himself on the episode "Talk Show"
- Was a Spelling Bee champion at his school.
- Is a lifelong fan of Huey Lewis and the News.
- Currently dating comedienne Sarah Silverman, a former Saturday Night Live cast member.
- Jimmy's proclaimed "favorites" have included: food - Pizza, movie - The One and Only, television Show - Lost, actress - Jennifer Garner, radio show - The Howard Stern Show
- Kimmel is also an avid New York Mets Fan.
External links
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- 1967 births
- American comedians
- American radio personalities
- American television producers
- Arizona State University alumni
- Drawn Together actors
- FOX NFL Sunday
- Family Guy actors
- Game show hosts
- Italian-Americans
- German-Americans
- Living people
- Monday Night Football
- Roman Catholic entertainers
- Television talk show hosts