Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Hacks’ cameo: Watch host lay down late-night law
Jimmy Kimmel plays himself in an episode of “Hacks” in whichDeborah is desperate to lift her plummeting ratings.
Jimmy and Jay are back in the ring.
In an appearance on the podcast “In Depth With Graham Bensinger,” former late-night host Jay Leno rehashed an old feud.
Leno, who has since squashed his beef with fellow comic Jimmy Kimmel, revealed to Bensinger that he takes partial blame for an infamous 2010 interview in which Kimmel skewered him for flip-flopping on his “Tonight Show” hosting duties.
“When Kimmel came on my show and humiliated me on my own show, I let it happen. I didn’t edit it,” Leno, 75, said. “It was my mistake, I trusted somebody. I went, ‘Ah, I made a mistake. Ok, I should pay the price.’ And it’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, we could have edited it out of the show.”
Leno is referring to a guest appearance by Kimmel, shortly after he had stepped down from his post at the “Tonight Show” for Conan O’Brien to take over, only to return as host less than a year later.
During the interview, Leno asked Kimmel what his best prank to which he answered: “I told a guy that five years from now I’m going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly.”
In the thick of the so-called “late night wars” before hosts were chummy enough to start a joint podcast (read Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Kimmel), the moment caused a real stir and set off a long feud between Kimmel and Leno.
On “In Depth,” though, Leno seemed fairly resigned about the incident, acknowledging that Kimmel made the joke based on the real-life fiasco that played out when he attempted to hand the show to O’Brien.
“It’s real — it happened. It’s my mistake. That’s how you learn,” he said.
“It’s not good TV for me because it started a whole thing that continues to this day, really,” he explained, referencing the bad blood, which was resolved in 2017 when Leno reached out after Kimmel’s son suffered a medical issue.
“But it’s okay, it’s alright. He’s a comic,” Leno said, stopping short of approval. “You do what you gotta do. I mean, I wouldn’t have done it, but that’s okay.”
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