One-on-one with 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' 'Millionaire' host Jimmy Kimmel
HOLLYWOOD, California (WABC) -- Jimmy Kimmel will host a new primetime version of the game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," with celebrities playing for their favorite charities.
It premieres on ABC on April 8, and I learned about that and a whole lot more during a recent trip to the set of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in Hollywood.
"My goal is to make everything feel like a natural conversation," Kimmel said while seated behind his desk on the familiar set, while I was seated in the chair reserved for his guests.
You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Kimmel, who seems so casual, even care-free on the air, is actually one of the hardest working guys I've ever met in show business.
"I've just always gone a hundred miles per hour," he said. "I think part of it was anxiety from my job always being in jeopardy, working in radio, working in television, you know how that is. And, also I just enjoy it. I have a motor for it."
I've seen him in action during his annual trip back home to Brooklyn, but it was while watching him work at his Hollywood headquarters that Kimmel's formidable work ethic first impressed me.
He took viewers on a video tour of his studio, where he pointed out his, "real desk, not the one you see on TV, and you can see I keep it stocked with Tums."
On the top floor above the control room and dressing rooms, near all the amenities (and free food) of a hit show, the host spends every afternoon crafting his monologue with one of his writers.
Their plans are often disrupted by President Donald Trump.
"We write the monologue from 2 to 4 p.m., and sometimes at 3:45, they'll say, 'Coming up, the president is gonna...' And we go, 'Oh no!'" he said. "And sometimes we have to throw away four pages of material and just start writing as fast as we can."
Kimmel said that working under pressure is satisfying, as is working with a head writer who happens to be his wife, Molly McNearney.
"It's kind of nice, because we have the same vacation time," he said. "When you come home, you kind of end up telling everything that happened today. We don't have to do that. We already know, and we can skip right to the fun part of the discussion. So for us, it works very well."
If you want to judge for yourself how well it all works, tune in to "Jimmy Kimmel Live" every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. on ABC 7.
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