"I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show," ABC latenight host Jimmy Kimmel said yesterday. Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien aren't following suit. NBC's The Tonight Show and TBS's Conan are planning original installments for May 20.
No New Kimmel Opposite Letterman Finale
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel is choosing not to air a new episode of his talk show opposite David Letterman’s final “Late Show” installment on CBS.
Kimmel told the New York Times on Thursday that his May 20 episode will be a repeat out of respect for Letterman. Kimmel’s spokeswoman confirmed the report. Other editions of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that week will be new.
“I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show,” said Kimmel in an email to the Times. “Plus, I’ll probably be crying all day, which makes it hard to work.”
Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien aren’t following suit. NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and TBS’s “Conan” are planning original installments for May 20, according to show representatives.
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” will be in repeats that week.
Letterman has hosted “Late Show” for 33 years.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Last year during Jay Leno’s final “Tonight Show,” rivals Letterman, Kimmel and O’Brien each aired new episodes. In their opening monologues that night, Letterman and O’Brien mentioned Leno’s last hurrah, while Kimmel tweeted about it.
Comments (4)
Gregg Palermo says:
May 8, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Nice gesture, had Dave retired when he actually lost interest in his own show, about a decade ago.
Wagner Pereira says:
May 8, 2015 at 1:27 pm
2 decades ago
Andrea Rader says:
May 10, 2015 at 12:40 pm
It’s been pointed out that after his bypass operation Letterman’s involvement in his show started to wane.
Wagner Pereira says:
May 11, 2015 at 3:21 am
Letterman gave up on trying ~1995 when Leno cloned his shows and he had no idea of what to do to combat it. So he gave up, stayed in the studio and sent “Biff” out in the street (or worse yet, his mom). Went downhill from there. Made big bucks for CBS in the #2 position, but of course #2 is 1st loser.