It's safe to say that Jimmy Kimmel has earned his place among late-night greats Jay Leno,
Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman, but the former Win Ben Stein's Money host was an unlikely
choice when ABC decided to break into the late-night talk show scene in 2003.
From his love life to his public feuds to his surprisingly powerful voice in the world
of politics, here's what we dug up about Kimmel as he rose to the top.
On the radio
Growing up, Jimmy Kimmel's family wanted him to pursue a career in art, but his teachers
encouraged his natural knack for comedy.
Following in the footsteps of his idol, David Letterman, Kimmel chose to start by working
in radio.
"I read in a Playboy magazine article that you started out in radio so I figured that
was the best course."
While bouncing around the country with a then-unknown Carson Daly as his sidekick, Kimmel eventually
landed at KROQ in Los Angeles, where he met his future co-host of The Man Show, Adam Carolla.
Big break
In 1997, Kimmel caught a break as the co-host of the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's
Money.
According to Stein, Kimmel was the show's first audition.
He said, "We knew we didn't have to see anyone else after that."
Despite the show's popularity, Kimmel was still auditioning for other television shows,
and it wasn't going well.
In an interview with The New York Times, Kimmel recalled one producer telling him that he
"wouldn't appeal to women," which inspired the concept for The Man Show, which was pitched
as, quote, "...an anti-Oprah show [with a] heavy emphasis on midgets, explosions and
beer."
After the Big 3 networks passed, Comedy Central snatched it up, and Kimmel suddenly looked
like the channel's golden boy.
A rough start
When Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered, it was generally considered to be dead on arrival,
according to critics.
Kimmel veered a little too close to his Man Show antics, and the late show became a jumbled
mess of drunken guests, rowdy audience members, and boring interviews.
Kimmel told The Hollywood Reporter,
"There were probably six or seven times where the show was going to get canceled and I would've
welcomed it at that time because I really just was out, I was spent."
Eventually, Kimmel switched gears, realizing he needed to cater to a wider audience.
With time to grow, Jimmy Kimmel Live! became a dependable hit for ABC, and the ratings
kept rising.
A Gawker takedown
In 2007, Kimmel filled in for talk show host Larry King and made headlines after calling
out Gawker editor Emily Gould over the site's popular "Gawker Stalker Map." Kimmel had been
spotted by the site and accused of being publicly intoxicated — when he was actually coming
home from a child's birthday party.
"Just because people have money it's okay to say false things about them to tear them
down?"
"It's not okay to say false things about anyone."
"Well, you should check your website then."
The incident became such an infamous critique of "citizen journalism" that Aaron Sorkin
recreated the exchange on The Newsroom.
Love at the office
In 2009, Kimmel and comedian Sarah Silverman ended their relationship, but they've remained
on good terms and she often appears on his show.
A few months after the breakup, Kimmel began dating his co-head writer, Molly McNearney.
Kimmel married McNearney in 2013, and a year later, the couple welcomed a daughter, Jane,
who brought out the edgy comedian's softer side, but Kimmel's life changed dramatically
when his son arrived in 2017 with a harrowing condition.
Baby Billy's battle
When Kimmel's son, Billy, was born in late April 2017, doctors discovered he had a congenital
heart disease that required immediate surgery.
The ordeal had a significant impact on Kimmel, who returned to his show early to deliver
an emotional monologue on affordable healthcare.
"If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money
you make."
On the show, Senator Bill Cassidy coined the phrase the "Jimmy Kimmel Test" and promised
that, quote, "...no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because
they can't afford it."
But months later, Cassidy proposed a bill that failed the Jimmy Kimmel Test on every
level, and the late-night host wasn't having it.
"He made a total about-face, which means he doesn't understand his own bill or he lied
to me.
It's as simple as that."
The bill died before it came up for a vote — which made little Billy Kimmel pretty
happy!
Water under the bridge
For years, Kimmel had been relentless about his dislike for Jay Leno.
He filmed an entire episode of his show doing a scathing impression of Leno, and even went
on Leno's 10 p.m. show and mocked him via satellite.
"Ever order anything off the TV?"
"Like NBC ordered your show off the TV?"
All that changed when Leno saw Kimmel's emotional monologue about his son and reached out to
him.
According to his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kimmel was clearly touched — and
had nothing but nice words to say about his former rival.
Gun control
The late-night host once again found himself wading into political waters after the deadly
mass shooting in his hometown of Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
In another emotional monologue, Kimmel said he refused to believe that nothing can be
done to prevent future tragedies, and didn't hold back on criticizing politicians, saying,
"The NRA has their balls in a money clip."
He also slammed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for saying that the
immediate aftermath of the shooting was not the time for debate.
"I don't know, we have 59 innocent people gone it was the time neither so I think it
is time for political debate."
Kimmel's fiery comments quickly made headlines, and they proved that the late-night host had
become a force to be reckoned with in politics.
Twitter game
Kimmel seems to be firing back at haters regularly these days.
When street artist Sabo recently posted fake ads around Hollywood, making fun of Kimmel's
emotional monologue, Kimmel let him know how he felt about it in a photo posted to Twitter
by actress Kristen Bell.
He also tweeted, "Dear crazies: it is fascinating that 500 innocent people get shot and your
anger is directed at me.
Think about that."
He included a link to an ActBlue donation page supporting gun safety.
The same week, Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted at Kimmel, insinuating that Democrats won't speak
out against Democratic donor Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer accused of years of
sexual assault and harassment.
Kimmel responded that he thinks "it's disgusting."
Trump Jr. came back with another jab...and that's when Kimmel shut down the conversation.
"And I responded with great in the meantime enjoy this.
And posted a link to daddy on the Access Hollywood bus."
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