After Stephen Colbert’s CBS run ended, Jimmy Kimmel says the shock hit him hard, that he’s thinking about his own future, and that he doesn’t know whether he’ll renew his contract when it expires in 2027.
The late-night world has always moved fast, but Jimmy Kimmel’s latest comments make it feel like things are changing even faster than anyone expected.
In a brand-new interview with Vulture published on Monday, the longtime ABC host opened up about the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show at CBS. Kimmel didn’t try to play it cool. “I feel a little bit defeated by it.”
Then came the part that lingered. Kimmel said Colbert’s situation pushed him to look hard at what might come next for him, too: “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future.”
Kimmel isn’t buying the idea that late-night is simply dying because audiences are disappearing. Instead, he pointed to how big digital audiences have become for hosts. “There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were. if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings.”.
But he also suggested the problems aren’t only about viewing habits. He offered a line that landed like a warning shot: “We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”
For all the talk about the genre’s future. Kimmel admitted he doesn’t have a clear plan for his own. His contract expires in 2027, and he said he genuinely doesn’t know whether he’ll renew it. He also made clear he won’t be chasing a dramatic exit for attention. saying: “It’s important to me to be responsible. I know I could go out in a blaze of glory and get a lot of applause for it. but it would be a very selfish thing to do.”.
When asked what he wants if he steps away for good, Kimmel’s answer sounded refreshingly ordinary. “Freedom is what I want more than anything. I want to be able to go fishing because the fishing’s good.”
Behind the scenes, his longtime producer Erin Irwin says the idea of stepping away has been discussed for some time. In the same outlet’s piece. she revealed that conversations about Kimmel’s potential retirement have been happening “for quite some time behind the scenes.” She added that she’d love to see him continue through the next presidential election cycle. but she also acknowledged the hurdle in front of him with two simple words: “He’s tired.”.
Kimmel has been a fixture of late-night television since 2003, surviving industry shakeups, political battles, changing viewing habits, and endless headlines. Yet with Colbert’s CBS departure still fresh and Kimmel now openly weighing his own end date. late-night’s next chapter feels less like a schedule and more like a question.
By Monday, the uncertainty wasn’t theoretical anymore. It was personal.
Jimmy Kimmel Stephen Colbert late-night TV Jimmy Kimmel Live! CBS ABC Vulture interview Erin Irwin contract expires 2027 fishing producer