Jimmy Kimmel Biography

Jimmy Kimmel is the host of the long-running late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Jimmy Kimmel began playing variations on an irreverent, cherub-faced lout on TV in the late 1990s, when he co-hosted Comedy Central’s game show Win Ben Stein’s Money (1997-2001) and The Man Show (1999-2003). He had started in radio, and after a decade bouncing around the U.S. he got in with the newly-established network Comedy Central.

The success of The Man Show allowed Kimmel to produce other projects (including Crank Yankers and The Andy Milonakis Show), and in 2003 he left Comedy Central for a job with the ABC network as the host of the late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live. The show, while irreverent, was in the classic late-night mode, with a monologue and guest interviews. Over time, Jimmy Kimmel followed in the footsteps of his hero David Letterman, gaining more mainstream respectability and becoming a late-night staple.

Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 89th Academy Awards show on February 26, 2017. There he became part of one of the great Oscar gaffes of all time, when La La Land was mistakenly announced as best picture by presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway — before the real winner, Moonlight, was announced instead.