Jimmy Kimmel Returns To The Studio & Admits Doing Virtual Emmys Was A “Strange” But “Fun” Experience
Jimmy Kimmel has had a busy week – returning to the studio for the first time in six months, back from his holidays and fresh off hosting last night’s Emmys.
The host discussed both bringing Jimmy Kimmel Live! back to the El Capitan Entertainment Centre studio and the Emmy awards during the show. Kimmel is the latest, and last, host of a nightly broadcast network late-night show to return to the studio following returns for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Kimmel has been off since June, having secured the summer months off in his latest contract with the show being hosted by a litany of guest hosts including Anthony Anderson, Billy Eichner, Sarah Cooper, Lil Rel Howery and David Spade.
“We had an audience, right? At one time there used to be people that would come to this room?,” he joked.
Kimmel revealed that production had divided the working area into different zones, presumably to ensure social distancing. “I’m not sure if I’m hosting a show or boarding a Southwest airlines flight,” he added.
Adding that all of the crew with clear plastic face shields look like they’re in a Daft Punk cover band, he joked that making his staff laugh at his jokes, in lieu of an audience, must be what Kim Jong Un feels like.
Guests on his first show back included Charles Barkley and The Chicks.
Kimmel hosted last night’s Emmys and made light of the fact that the 72nd iteration of the awards were the lowest rated ever, bringing in 6.1 million viewers and a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 in time adjusted results. Kimmel had told Deadline earlier in the week that he thought they would be and he was right.
“Well, we set a record let’s just say that,” he joked.
Regardless, he said that he had a “lot of fun – given the difficult circumstances”.
“The weirdest part of hosting this show was – when it was over – there are usually parties – and everyone is carrying their Emmys around. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s celebrating. This year, the show ended – and it was like ‘well, I guess I’ll go into my car – and drive home’, he said. “Doing an awards show – where all the winners are at home – is a strange experience. It was probably the first time in history that someone won an Emmy – and then, ten minutes later put a load of laundry in the dryer.
Kimmel poked fun at many of the night’s winners including the stars of Schitt’s Creek, Succession, Ozark and Euphoria.
“We learned the winner for best actor, Jeremy Strong, has been haunting a Sears portrait studio. We saw Julia Garner from Ozark almost forget to thank her husband – even though he was six inches away from her in a red silk bathrobe. We learned where the cast of Schitt’s Creek eats dinner… before their very polite sex parties. We learned that the winner of best director – lives in a room at the Marriott or the Courtyard Suites. And we learned that the only person social-distancing in Zendaya’s house was Zendaya herself.”
Joking aside, Kimmel also brought attention to the fact that the Emmys raised $2.8M for the No Kid Hungry charity. “So that was a very big positive,” he added.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is exec produced by Kimmel and Sharon Hoffman with David Craig, Douglas DeLuca, Erin Irwin, Molly McNearney and Jennifer Sharron as co-executive producers. It is produced by 12 05 AM Productions in association with Kimmelot and ABC Studios.
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