Jimmy Kimmel weighs retirement plans after Stephen Colbert's show ends

Jimmy Kimmel said he is considering how and when to end Jimmy Kimmel Live! after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled. "I feel a little bit defeated by it," he said, adding, "In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future." He has hosted the ABC program since 2003 and was taken off the air for six days in September over a comment regarding Charlie Kirk’s death.

He pushed back on the idea that late-night TV is dying, arguing that there are more viewers now when online views are combined with linear-television ratings. "We’re not just dying of natural causes," Kimmel said. "We’re being poisoned." Kimmel said he is unsure whether he will renew his ABC contract in May 2027 or announce his retirement, stressing that he wants to be "responsible" rather than leave "in a blaze of glory." "Professionally," he added, he has "no idea" what he’ll do after he retires; "freedom is what I want more than anything," and he said he wants to be able to go fishing.

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