As late-night host Jimmy Kimmel mulls retirement when his current contract with Disney-owned ABC expires at the end of next year, speculation over potential replacements continues to swirl.
“I think this is my final contract. I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough,” Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times in an interview back in February.
Kimmel, who has hosted his ABC program since 2003, explained that he spent significant time prepping for his Oscars hosting gig last year. He also revealed that he has been considering retirement.
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“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live host told the outlet at the time. “Wednesday night, I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer.
“In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’ But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff,’” he continued.
If Kimmel does decide to step aside, a candidate who is already part of the Disney network has been rumored to be in contention as a potential replacement.
“I am interested in doing late night,” longtime ESPN host Stephen A. Smith told Sean Hannity in a recent interview. “I would love to be the heir apparent to Jimmy Kimmel. I believe I could do it.”
“I would throw everybody for a loop, my politics would throw people off because I’d be fair to everybody and I’d listen to everybody. It wouldn’t be one-sided, I’m not a one-sided kind of guy. I’m one-sided on issues, I’m not one-sided on ideology.”
According to a report from Outkick, ESPN insiders believe that Smith would likely host a different evening program in the ABC lineup if he were to try his hand at late-night television. Smith has stated that he is willing to turn over his signature program, “First Take,” to co-host Shannon Sharpe in the coming years.