Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy Kimmel
File:JimmyKimmel.jpg
Born	(1967-11-13) November 13, 1967 Brooklyn, New York
Occupation	Host of Jimmy Kimmel Live

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television comedy talk-show host, comedian, and producer.

Early life

Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of German and Italian descent. The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year and Arizona State University for two years. He did not complete his degree.

Career

Early radio career

Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job doing morning drive at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ-FM in Palm Springs, California (where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern). From Tampa, Kimmel landed a job with Mike Elliott at 93.7 KRQ in Tucson. Kimmel and Elliott were fired after one year. From KRQ, Kimmel was hired as sports guy/comedy writer for the Kevin and Bean morning show at KROQ-FM, Los Angeles, where he was known as "Jimmy the Sports Guy." Kimmel spent five years at KROQ, leaving in 1999 to focus on television.

Comedy Central

Kimmel's television career began as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money which aired on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and everyman personality was a counterpoint to Ben Stein's sleepy humor and intellectual elitist attitude and earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host. It was around this time that Jimmy and his then wife Gina appeared on HGTV's Designers' Challenge, in an episode entitled "English Tudor Kitchen Restored." The episode was later removed from HGTV's website, but David Letterman referred to it during one of Jimmy's appearances on his show.

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's money, Kimmel was also co-host (with Adam Carolla) and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001. He was replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental who, eventually, was replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono.

Kimmel, Carolla, and Daniel Kellison's success with The Man Show allowed them to create and produce other TV shows under the banner Jackhole Industries, including Crank Yankers for Comedy Central and later MTV2, on which Kimmel plays the characters Elmer Higgins, Terrence Catheter, "The Nudge", Karl Malone, and himself and The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.

Jimmy Kimmel Live

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. He has interviewed many celebrity guests including Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and [1] Gwen Stefani.

In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com Kimmel was named the biggest baddass on TV. Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake. It is also said that he requests a glass of Long Island Iced Tea before every filming of his show.

Other television work

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for FOX NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel is a three time host of the American Music Awards and served as roastmaster for the Comedy Central Roasts of both Hugh Hefner and Pamela Anderson. He also appeared as Death's Dog on Family Guy.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel will be the host of their new game show Set For Life.

On April 6, 2007 Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live.

Personal life

• Kimmel is an avid New York Mets fan.
• Kimmel began dating comedian Sarah Silverman in late 2002.
• His favorite band is Huey Lewis and the News.
• Kimmel has stated that he suffers from narcolepsy.
• He has a son, Kevin, and a daughter, Katie, with his ex-wife, Gina. All have appeared on The Man Show.
• Is a huge fan of David Letterman and Howard Stern, who were his idols growing up.
• Cleto Escobedo III, the leader of Jimmy Kimmel Live's "house band" Cleto and the Cletones, is one of his best friends.
• Adam Carolla has stated that Kimmel has a talent for drawing penises.
• Season 6 of Celebrity Deathmatch featured a match where Kimmel (voiced by comedian James Adomian) lost to Carson Daly.
• In a June 2006 interview, UFC.com interview, he cited Tyler "Knightmare" Thomas as his favorite professional fighter.

References

In a recent substitute for Larry King of CNN's Larry King Live, Kimmel - who apparently was trying to take on the personna of a legitimate journalist, even wearing a set of King's trademark suspenders - showed that he had a VERY thin skin. Kimmel made his career on what he often knew to be untrue comments about people - though his argument would be that they were attempts at humor - apparently can not handle others making comments about him.

External links

• Jimmy Kimmel appears on Michael Eisner's talkshow on CNBC
• Jimmy Kimmel at IMDb
• JimmyKimmel.Net
• Jimmy Kimmel's Most Popular Episode
• Jimmy Kimmel interview
• appearance on HGTV design show