Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC’s late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has revealed that he was planning to retire from his show before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike in May 2023. Kimmel shared this surprising news on the first episode of his new podcast Strike Force Five, which he hosts with fellow late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers.
Kimmel’s Retirement Plans
Kimmel said that he was “very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started” and that he had changed his mind since then. He said that he realized that it was “kind of nice to work” and that he liked getting the summer off from his show each year, but he liked it better when he was “getting paid to get the summer off”.
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Kimmel’s retirement plans were not widely known before he revealed them on the podcast. In 2022, ABC announced that Kimmel had signed a three-year contract extension to stay on as host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live! until 2025. At the time, Kimmel joked in a statement that he was looking forward to “three years of what they call ‘quiet quitting’”.
The Writers Strike and Its Impact
The WGA, which represents about 15,000 TV and film writers, went on strike in May 2023 after failing to reach a new contract agreement with the major studios and streaming services. The main issues in dispute were wages, streaming residuals, health care and diversity. The strike affected many TV shows and movies, including the late night talk shows, which rely heavily on writers for their monologues and comedy segments.
The late night shows went dark in May and have not resumed production since then. The hosts have been trying to find alternative ways to entertain their audiences and support their staff members who are out of work due to the strike. Some of them have been posting videos on social media, while others have been doing live shows or podcasts.
The Strike Force Five Podcast
The Strike Force Five podcast is one of the initiatives that the late night hosts have launched to help their staff members who are affected by the strike. The podcast features all five hosts participating in a roundtable discussion about various topics, such as the strike, their careers, their personal lives and their opinions on current events. The podcast is available on Spotify and other major podcast platforms.
The podcast is also a fundraising effort for the staff members who are not getting paid during the strike. All the money that the hosts make from the podcast goes to their staff members, according to Kimmel. He said that the reason they were doing the podcast was because they were “financially supporting members of our staff”.
The podcast is expected to run for at least 12 episodes, with each host serving as a rotating moderator. The first episode was released on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, and featured Kimmel as the moderator. The episode received positive reviews from critics and fans, who praised the chemistry and humor of the hosts.