After having one of their affiliates shot up by a leftist terrorist, ABC decided to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. This was probably the worst move for both the network and Jimmy Kimmel’s career. For the first time in his decades long career of trying to get people to pay attention to him, people were interested in Jimmy Kimmel.
Then they tuned in and found out that Jimmy Kimmel is the equivalent of your slightly drunk cousin trying to make an Instagram video about his cruise. Whatever your politics are, all people of goodwill and good taste ought to be able to agree that Jimmy Kimmel hasn’t been on speaking terms with funny since he was a toddler.
Kimmel is to comedy what LaCroix water is to beer. This was a problem back when there was the expectation that a comedian should be funny. Jimmy Kimmel overcame that by playing the “I’m one of you” card. You know the one. “I’m one of you guys. I like sports and girls too. Come on, applaud.” Things got a lot easier when comedy became political clapter. Kimmel took one look at the Daily Show and decided, “I could do that too.”
(Spoiler alert: He couldn’t.)
But in a world where Stephen Colbert got (had) a late night show and Jimmy Fallon was somehow picked to host a late night show rather than get coffee for executives, Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t that much worse.
All Kimmel had to do was listen to NPR and repeat back what he heard loudly in a sarcastic voice. Jon Stewart made it seem really easy, but Kimmel was never convincing at it no matter how he tried to make it seem personal. Then, like an idiot janitor and a bucket, he managed to stumble into getting suspended.
Sadly the suspension was far too short. And with Kimmel back on the air, record numbers of viewers tuned in only to discover that Jimmy Kimmel still isn’t funny.
