Jimmy Kimmel was very serious about retiring before the writers strike
Over the last few years, a lot of celebrities have been jumping on the podcast bandwagon. I listen to a lot of podcasts but the only celebrity-hosted ones I’ve listened to are the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes and Conan O’Brien’s delightful Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Well, now there’s a new pod joining the fray. In lieu of the two Hollywood strikes, five of TV’s late-night television hosts – Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver – have joined forces to launch a brand new podcast on Spotify called Strike Force Five.
Strike Force Five will have a minimum of 12 episodes and all of its proceeds will go directly to the out-of-work staff on each host’s respective show. According to a post from NowThis News, the limited-series will “provide viewers with the hosts’ insights, opinions, and of course, their trademark humor as they navigate the intricacies of the Hollywood strikes.” On the first episode of Strike Force Five, Jimmy Kimmel shared that he almost retired from Jimmy Kimmel Live! before the WGA strike began in May.
In the first episode of the “Strike Force Five” podcast featuring Kimmel and his fellow late night hosts, he asked the panel whether they were “getting stir-crazy” and “ready to get back to work” – before revealing that he had considered hanging up his hat.
“I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started, and now I realize like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s kinda nice to work,’” he said. “You know, when you are working, you think about not working.”
Seth Meyers cut in on Kimmel’s remarks to refer to him as the “Tom Brady of late night hosts” before asking whether people should take his word for it.
Kimmel replied that he was “very, very serious” about retirement.
“I enjoy getting summers off. I enjoy the fact that you don’t get them even more, makes them all the sweeter. … But I like getting the summer off better when I’m getting paid to get the summer off,” Kimmel said
I totally understand feeling burnt out and needing a change careerwise. I know that feeling firsthand. While it must be nice to be able to retire at 55, the sentiment behind it is relatable. I wonder if he’ll change his mind again and end up retiring within the next year or so anyway. Now this has me thinking about who would be an awesome choice to replace him. Hmm… Anyway, I’m curious to check out Strike Force Five, but only because I really want to hear from John Oliver and Stephen Colbert. If there was a podcast with just the two of them, I’d definitely subscribe to it.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
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