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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
SEPTEMBER 2012
71
HEMISPHERES:
So, the Emmys. How did
they talk you into it?
KIMMEL:
It wasn’t a ma er of
them
talking
me
into it. It was more like,
“Let me host the Emmys, will ya?”
HEMISPHERES:
Why did you want
it so much?
KIMMEL:
When you’re a talk show
host, there are only so many hurdles
you can clear, and this is one of
them. It’s not as if I’m going to win
an Oscar or something, and I’d be
surprised if I ended up hosting the
Oscars. So hosting the Emmys is
about as big as it’s going to get for me.
It’s something I’ve been wanting to
do. I felt I was passed over when they
chose a reality show host [Jeff Probst
of “Survivor”] the last time ABC had
them, in 2008.
HEMISPHERES:
You won an Emmy
yourself once.
KIMMEL:
It was a Daytime Emmy
for game show host [for “Win Ben
Stein’s Money”], and it’s not the same
thing. The statue looks just the same,
though—you have to inspect it really
closely to tell the difference.
HEMISPHERES:
Did you cry when
you won?
KIMMEL:
No, I gave it to Susan Lucci.
HEMISPHERES:
But it’s OK to weep if
you get an Emmy, right?
KIMMEL:
I think it’s unacceptable
to weep if you get an Emmy. I really
do. Ge ing a li le choked up is OK,
maybe, but definitely not if it’s a
supporting actor award. Then there
should be no weeping. None.
HEMISPHERES:
At least you won’t have
to follow the president, as you did at the
White House correspondents’ dinner.
KIMMEL:
He did well, I thought. He’s
welcome to come and open the show
for me, warm up the audience. We
could always tell him it’s a fundraiser.
HEMISPHERES:
I was there, actually. It
was a tough crowd that night, but you
seemed to enjoy yourself.
KIMMEL:
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed
it, but I think it went pre y well. I
was very nervous. It’s like singing
the national anthem. If you’re good,
people just go, “OK,” but if you screw
up, it’s a national travesty.
HEMISPHERES:
The media people
seemed to laugh at everything except the
jokes that were aimed at them.
KIMMEL:
I think it’s funny that
someone in the press invites Kim
Kardashian to come to this event and
then the rest of the press spends the
whole time saying, “Why is KimKar-
dashian at this event?” Because she
was invited, that’s why. It was one of
the strangest rooms I’d ever been in.
There are a lot of people—a lot of very
bright people, bona fide geniuses—in
the room, and yet everyone is still
staring at Lindsay Lohan. What really
struck me more than anything is that
in Hollywood, the Obamas are the
biggest celebrities; but inWashington,
people freak out when they see
Lindsay Lohan. I didn’t expect that.
HEMISPHERES:
Are there other events
that are especially tough to work?
KIMMEL:
Charity events are difficult.
A lot of times people are eating, which
is no good. And I think sometimes
people forget that you’re there doing
a favor for the charity.
HEMISPHERES:
It’s not like, say,
appearing on a talk show that bears
your name.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 136
»
JIMMY KIMMEL,
BY THE NUMBERS
44
Age
6
'
1
"
Height
7
Radio stations worked at
before breaking into TV
1
Years of doing
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” live
(the show is now taped)
3
Emmys won by
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
24,640
Miles that Kimmel traveled
in se ing the record for farthest
distance commuted in a single week
(L.A.–New York, daily)
AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY (“THE MAN SHOW”); RANDY HOLMES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES (KIMMEL + PERRY);
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (KIMMEL + OBAMA)