Jimmy Kimmel is thinking about how and when to end his late-night talk show after “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled.
“I feel a little bit defeated by it,” Kimmel told Vulture in an interview published Monday about CBS’ decision to axe Colbert’s program.
“In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future,” he added.
The comedian, who has hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC since 2003 and was taken off the air for six days in September for a comment regarding Charlie Kirk’s death, pushed back on the “silly” criticism of late-night TV.
“There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were, if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings,” Kimmel stated.
“We’re not just dying of natural causes,” he continued. “We’re being poisoned.”
Kimmel explained that he’s unsure if he’ll renew his contract with ABC in May 2027 or announce his retirement.
“It’s important to me to be responsible,” he said about how he might end his show. “I know I could go out in a blaze of glory and get a lot of applause for it, but it would be a very selfish thing to do.”
The father of four also admitted that “professionally,” he has “no idea” what he’ll do after he retires from late-night.
“Freedom is what I want more than anything,” he shared. “I want to be able to go fishing because the fishing’s good.”
Kimmel’s longtime producer, Erin Irwin, told Vulture the comedian has “been talking about leaving for a while.”
Irwin said that while she hopes the show continues through the 2028 presidential election, she doesn’t know “if Jimmy can do it for that long.
“He’s tired,” she added.
In July 2025, Colbert, 62, announced that CBS was pulling the plug on “The Late Night” franchise, which was hosted by David Letterman from 1993 until 2015 when Colbert took over.
The decision came shortly after Colbert criticized Paramount for settling with President Trump for $16 million after he sued the company for allegedly editing a “60 Minutes” interview with his presidential opponent Kamala Harris.
But CBS insisted they canceled the series as a “purely financial decision” that was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Colbert’s final show aired on May 21.
Fellow late-night hosts Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and John Stewart all appeared on the episode with words of wisdom to help Colbert process the end of his show.
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