After his show was put on pause and then returned, Jimmy Kimmel has made a staggering revelation that he “prayed” ABC would “cancel” his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
“I didn’t know what I was doing, and I would pray that they canceled the show sometimes,” Kimmel dished to Ted Danson on his Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast.
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Jimmy Kimmel ‘Didn’t Have Many Guests’ When His Show Began
“I didn’t want to quit because I didn’t want to disappoint all the many people who worked for me, but I couldn’t. I was just — I couldn’t do it anymore,” he stated.
He noted one of the issues was that they “didn’t have many guests” due to them airing “live at midnight.”
“There were times it was 5:30 in the afternoon and we didn’t have guests for that night’s show, and I would have to just pick up the phone and call my friends,” he elaborated.
“That’s not how you go into a show,” Kimmel said. “You can’t operate that way.”
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Jimmy Kimmel’s Friends Came on His Show in the Early Days
At the time, Kimmel was dating Sarah Silverman, and he shared he relied on her help due to his lack of guests.
“I asked her to come on a lot and I love her,” he noted.
Kimmel also called on other friends to help him at the time, including Adam Carolla, David Alan Grier, Anthony Anderson and Kathy Griffin.
“God bless them, because I needed them,” he admitted. “And they were always ready at a moment’s notice to come on.”
Eventually, the show got off the ground and became a hit.
“It stabilized and we figured out how to do it,” he concluded, noting they figured out “running bits” and other things that kept the show “afloat.”
