I've Signed My 'Final Contract,' He Says

Jimmy Kimmel’s show may not be cancelled, but it does look like the Live talk show will be ending in the coming years – whether he wants it to or not.

For years, it has been rumored that the beloved late night host was ready to walk away from the show; he’s even spoken up in interviews suggesting he would retire.

But after the pandemic and then two Hollywood strikes, it looked like to many that Jimmy had changed his mind and was ready to stick it out for longer.

Until now.

Jimmy Kimmel Ready To Retire: “This is My Final Contract”

Since January 2003, Jimmy Kimmel Live has been delighting fans who stay up late, or at the very least catch the recaps on Youtube.

Twenty-one years later, Jimmy is still as popular as he ever was. And, he keeps making headlines with his show! (Never forget his feud with George Santos or what went down with Aaron Rodgers!)

But in speaking with the Los Angeles Times ahead of hosting the Oscars, Jimmy admitted that, despite having said it before and backtracked, he’s ready to move on from his late night gig.

“I think this is my final contract,” he said, before admittedly, giving himself an out, should he want it.

“I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now,” he explained.

“Each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough.”

The deal he made will keep Jimmy as host and exec producer of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! through its 23rd season. That will take him into 2026. It will also mean he’ll surpass Jay Leno’s streak, who hosted NBC’s The Tonight Show for 22 years, but not David Letterman’s, who spent 33 years in late-night.

Why Jimmy Wants To See The Show End

“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” said Jimmy, who explained that the show can sometimes get in the way of doing anything else creative due to the demanding schedule.

That was especially true this past year, while he was hosting the Academy Awards.

“Wednesday night, I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer.”

“In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over,'” Jimmy added. “But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff.'”

But the question is, if Jimmy Kimmel’s show does get cancelled or end or whatever you want to call it, what exactly will he do with his time?

That he’s given a lot of thought and he’s come to the conclusion that he’s got a lot of living to do.

“I have a lot of hobbies,” Jimmy said. “I know that when I die, if I’m fortunate enough to die on my own terms in my own bed, I’m going to think, ‘Oh, I was never able to get to this, and I was never able to get to that.’ I just know it about myself.”

Why Jimmy Kimmel Thinks He’ll Get Cancelled, No Matter What He Decides

Then again, the choice may not be his to make.

Right now, it feels like Jimmy holds all the cards to his future; if he wants to carry on, ABC would be more than happy to extend his contract again.

But as he sees it, it would be better for him to get out on his own terms than be cancelled – like he sees all light night shows being in the future!

“I don’t know if there will be any late-night television shows on network TV in ten years. Maybe there’ll be one but there won’t be a lot of them,” he said on the Politickin’ podcast while on a filming hiatus over the summer.

“There’s a lot to watch and now people can watch anything at anytime, they’ve got all these streaming services. It used to be Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30pm and so everybody watched and then David Letterman was on after Johnny so people watched those two shows but now they’re so many options.”

Fair enough, but one would argue that streaming has opened up an entire new audience. Jimmy’s thought of that too.

“Maybe more significantly, the fact that people are easily able to watch your monologue online the next day, it really cancels out the need to watch it when it’s on the air and once people stop watching it when it’s on the air, networks are going to stop paying for it to be made,” he added.

We don’t know if we agree with him there. Yes, there’s a whole generation who is cord cutting, but maybe that’s why network TV has to think about having a renaissance. Wouldn’t count them all out yet!

Will He Host The Oscars Again?

In the same way folks are curious when Jimmy might step away from his late night show, so are they interested in his future role as Oscar host.

For younger generations, Jimmy has became a version of Billy Crystal. That is to say, both men have hosted the show more than anyone else and have become linked to the show’s identity in many ways.

Sadly, it sounds like Jimmy isn’t committed to hosting the show every year. While he was front and center for the 2024 ceremony, he’ll be bowing out for the 2025 awards.

“I just decided I didn’t want to deal with that this year,” Kimmel said to Variety Magazine.

“It was just too much last year. You wind up pushing everything off till after the Oscars, and then you have to do everything you promised to do after the Oscars, after the Oscars. I did two years [2017 and 2018], it went well. I did another two years [2023 and 2024], it went well. I figured I’d take a little break.”

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