Jimmy Kimmel is considering when and how to end his late-night talk show after “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled.
“I feel a little defeated by it,” Kimmel told Vulture in an interview published Monday about CBS’ decision to cancel Colbert’s show.
“In many ways, I feel like I’m looking into my own future,” he added.
Comedian who hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The show, which has aired on ABC since 2003, was taken off the air for six days in September over comments about Charlie Kirk’s death, pushing back against “stupid” criticism of late-night TV.
“When you add terrestrial TV ratings to the views that my colleagues and I get online every day, there are far more people watching late-night TV than ever before,” Kimmel said.
“We’re not just dying from natural causes,” he continued. “We are being poisoned.”
Kimmel explained that he does not know whether he will renew his contract with ABC in May 2027 or announce his retirement.
“It’s important to me to be responsible,” he said of how the show ends. “I know it would be a blaze of glory and a lot of applause, but that would be a very selfish thing to do.”
The father-of-four also admitted that, “professionally”, he has “no idea” what he will do after he retires from the late night shift.
“What I want more than anything is freedom,” he said. “I want to go fishing because the fishing is good.”
Kimmel’s longtime producer Erin Irwin told Vulture that the comedian has been “talking about leaving for some time.”
Irwin said she hopes the show will continue until the 2028 presidential election, but “I don’t know if Jimmy can last that long.”
“He’s tired,” she added.
In July 2025, Colbert, 62, announced that CBS was discontinuing “The Late Night” series, which was hosted by David Letterman from 1993 until Colbert took over in 2015.
The decision comes shortly after Colbert criticized Paramount, which settled with Trump for $16 million after suing the company for allegedly editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris.
However, CBS insisted that canceling the series was a “purely financial decision” and “has nothing to do with the show’s performance or content or anything else going on at Paramount.”
Colbert’s last show aired on May 21st.
Fellow late-night hosts Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jon Stewart all appeared on the episode and offered words of wisdom to help Colbert process the end of his show.
