Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t know where life will take him once his long-running late-night talk show ends.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host, 56, appeared on Monday’s episode of Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson’s “Politickin’ ” podcast and acknowledged that his career may never be the same after his show goes off the air.
“I will have a hard time when it’s over,” he said. “It worries me, and that’s part of the reason why I keep going.”
Kimmel’s ABC talk series premiered in January 2003, with George Clooney as his first guest ever.
Earlier this year, Kimmel hinted in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that the latest two-year contract he signed for his show could be his last.
“Each time I think, well, this is going to be my last contract, and then I wind up signing another contract,” he said on the “Politickin’ ” podcast.
“It’s because I fear that day, that Monday after my final show, and it’s like, OK, now what am I going to do?” the father of four continued. “Because there’s not a . . . I don’t know, there aren’t a huge number of options for late-night hosts after the shows are over.”
“People think of you like a late-night talk show host. It’s not like you are suddenly going to start starring in films.”
In February, Kimmel told the LA Times that he’s had thoughts about wrapping up his late-night show after 20 years.
“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” he explained. “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.”
“I think this is my final contract,” Kimmel said, adding, “That seems pretty good. That seems like enough,” he said.
He also addressed what his life may be like after “Live!” ends.
“I have a lot of hobbies — I love to cook, I love to draw, I imagine myself learning to do sculptures,” Kimmel quipped. “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.”
On the “Politickin” podcast, the Emmy Award winner said he’s fearful for the future of all late-night shows.
“I don’t know if there will be any late night television shows on network TV in 10 years,” he shared. “Maybe there will be one, but there won’t be a lot of them. The audience is, there’s a lot to watch, you know, and now people can watch anything at any time.”
“They’ve got all these streaming services,” he noted. “It used to be like, you know, Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30. And so everybody watched, and then David Letterman was on after Johnny.
Kimmel continued: “And so people would watch those two shows, but now there are so many options and maybe even more significantly, the fact that people are able to easily 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.”
While Kimmel has been on summer vacation, his show has continued to air with guest hosts including Kathryn Hahn, Kumail Nanjiani, Anthony Anderson, Jeff Goldblum and Lamorne Morris.
Kimmel is expected to return from his hiatus in the fall.
