đïž Listen to this episode:
Featured: Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jason Zenman, Bill Carter, Charlie Kirk, Greg Gutfeld
What’s in This Episode
- Jimmy Kimmel pulled from ABC amid boycott calls
- Disney and ESPN ownership implications of ABC boycott
- Sinclair Broadcasting airing Charlie Kirk special instead of Kimmel
- Late night hosts navigating political comedy under Trump administration
- Historical evolution of political comedy on The Tonight Show
- ABC facing pressure from FCC chair over Kimmel situation
Questions Answered in This Episode
Why is Jimmy Kimmel being taken off ABC?
According to Johnny Mac’s episode, Sinclair Broadcasting stations and the Trump administration/FCC chair are pressuring ABC to remove Kimmel, though the specific trigger isn’t fully detailed in this transcript. ABC aired reruns and alternatives instead.
What does boycotting ABC actually mean if Disney owns it?
Boycotting ABC means avoiding all Disney properties including Hulu, Disney+, ESPN, Monday Night Football, and Red Zone, since Disney is the parent company of ABC.
Did Sinclair Broadcasting air the Charlie Kirk special instead of Kimmel?
NoâSinclair initially planned to air a Charlie Kirk special but ultimately decided to air regular ABC Network programming instead, with the Kirk special made available only on YouTube.
Is Jimmy Fallon taking a political stance on the Kimmel situation?
NoâJohnny Mac notes that Fallon claimed ignorance, saying ‘I don’t know what’s going on. No one does,’ which Jason Zenman criticized as playing dumb rather than engaging with the issue.
What is the FCC threatening to do to ABC?
FCC chair Carr has threatened to use government power to damage ABC’s bottom line if they don’t remove Kimmel, stating they could ‘do this the easy way or the hard way.’
How has political comedy evolved on late night TV?
The Guardian noted that Steve Allen used measured satire, Johnny Carson transformed it into nightly political material through impersonations and parody in the 1960s, and late night became increasingly politicized by the 1990s.
Full Transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.
Caloroga Shark Media. This is the Sunday Jimmy Kimmel bonus episode. The normal episode went out earlier this morning. Hello, I’m Johnny Mac and the ABC would like it to stop complaining. No, not that ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
They say they’re getting complaints about this Jimmy Kimmel thing. It’s not them. Some of the complaints that have gone to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation include one person writing, what you did to Jimmy Kimmel is against the constitution and I will be boycotting ABC. When you bend your niece to the president. You’ve gone too far.
America is not happy with ABC. That’s nice. I will contact and boycott all business that sponsor ABC’s shows. That’s nice. Would you like a vegemite sandwich?
I will never watch ABC again. Free speech is gone. Go Jimmy Kimmel. That’s nice. Put another shrimp on the barbie, will you.
The vast majority of compla sent to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had expressions of dismay that Jimmy Kimmel show had been pulled off air. Now I know a lot of you are boycotting ABC over this, and I’m on team Kimmel in case that isn’t coming out loud and clear here, But just explain to you the problem with your boycott. Okay, you’re boycotting ABC, right, So you’re boycotting Disney. So you’re not gonna go to the theme parks. Okay, fine, You’re not gonna watch Hulu right because Disney owns Hulu.
So delete your Hulu, delete your Disney Plus all that’s good. Okay. No more Star Wars okay, no more Marvel okay, but here’s where I’m gonna get you. No more Monday Night football, guys. ESPN is owned by Disney, so don’t think you’re watching Joe Buck tomorrow night.
And part of this whole thing ESPN, which is Disney, which is ABC, they’re trying to acquire Red Zone to do a deal with the NFL. So I don’t want you watching Red Zone today. Now, I as a hypocrite, I’m gonna watch Red Zone because I like my football and I’m Scott back in the football pool and the forty nine ers playing the Cardinals at four o’clock, so I’m gonna have Red Zone on. I’m a shill. I’m the worst, but you no Marvel, no Disney, no Star Wars, no Hulu, no ESPN, no Red Zone.
Stay strong. I saw somebody bring up on social media. I forget where I’m stealing this idea from. But if Kimmel doesn’t host a late night show, whereas somebody like Fallon or Colbert, they were comedians, Jimmy is a radio guy who learned the art of the monologue, but he took a different path to the TV chair. So could he just translate his skills into something maybe the same way you know, Jimmy Fallon could just go out on tour, whether or not you find him funny.
We’ll get to that in a second, But I just thought that was an interesting observation that if Jimmy Kimmel’s not a late night talk show host, what does he do? Does he tour as a comedian? I don’t know. Friday Night, remember this whole thing, in part, was that some of the stations were going to air a tribute to Charlie Kirk instead of Jimmy Kimmel’s Friday night show. That never happened.
Well, psych they didn’t air the tribute. Sinclair put out an update on Twitter, saying Tonight Friday night, sint Clair will continue to air ABC Network programming as scheduled in the late night time period. The Charlie Kirk special instead be available on the National News Desk’s YouTube channel during Viewers can continue to enjoy ABC programming while also providing full access to the special online. What are we doing? I thought, what are we even fighting over?
Now you’re not even airing it. ABC aired celebrity Family Feud reruns in case you care this morning on Sunday morning at ten to five Eastern time. I typed the phrase Joe Rogan Kimmel into Google. Nothing new came up in The New York Times. A friend of the show, Jason Zenneman, who I have reached out to.
I think he’s on vacation, but I’m hoping to see if he’s not, if I can get him on here, because I want to talk to him about all this. He also called out Jimmy Fallon. Zenneman quoted Fallon from the monologue the other night when Falan said, to be honest with you, I don’t know what’s going on. No one does, Zennimann wrote, Really, anyone paying attention should have some idea what’s going on, but the temptation to play dumb is surely real. To be fair, Fallen does not portray himself as the kind of man who broods over the responsibilities of the artist in an age of authoritarianism.
He’s never seemed especially interested in politics, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming entangled in it. He was blamed for helping to usher in the first Trump presidency because he infamously ruffled his hair on The Tonight Show in twenty sixteen. That always struck me as unfair. Trump and here jokes had been a hallmark of popular culture for decades. Fallen was just falling the crowd.
But there have lately been signs that Fallon’s trying to get out of it to avoid attacks on the administration by playing nice and downplaying political comedy, working both sides of the aisle. A recent Tonight Show guest was Greg Guttfeld skipping ahead, Jason writes, as I watched comedians navigate this thorny moment, I’ve been thinking about parallels from the recent past. That hasn’t led me to any American late night controversies, but it did immediately bring to mind a trip to Moscow for one of the first articles I Jason sidim Road for The Times. It was a two thousand and three feature about a spate of Russian artists introducing American musicals to their country for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union.
And then Jason has a whole section there about what’s going on over there andâŠ
They point out Steve Allen regularly poked fund at political figures in his opening monologues, but in a measured, self deprecating style that was typical of the era. It wasn’t until Carson took over in sixty two that The Tonight Show transformed into a cultural institution where politics was mined for nightly material. Carson resorted to impersonations and satire to highlight the human inconsistencies within politics, and borrowed from Aban Costello’s Who’s On First to parody Reagan’s hetorical double speech. It wasn’t until the nineties, when Carson was heading for retirement and the competition for his crown and ratings was growing more intense that he began to see presidential hopefuls pursuing late night appearances. On Late Nighter Bill, Carter points out that ABC has an import possible choice.
He writes, Jimmy Kimmel does work for ABC and has for two decades. He has been literally the face of that network for some time now as host of the Oscars and other ABC properties like Millionaire. By the way, I had in my notes Mark Maron was supposed to be on Millionaire this week. I mean, it’s already in the can. Is that going to air?
Curter right, Surely ABC would value this vital talent, But now what ABC of course, realizes that Trump in FCC chairperson car will make good on the threat, which Carr stated openly and without any regret about his unabashed abusive power in undermining the Bill of Rights, using terms Tony Soprano would have loved. We could do this the easy way or the hard way, rights Bill Carter. If ABC decides to stand by Kimmel, the hard way may be financially excruciating. Carter points out Sinclaire Broadcasting, but out of statement that they’re not going to carry Kimmel shown no matter what. Even if ABC brings back Carter rights that would seem to leave ABC a little leverage to stave off canceling Kimmel, though that would widely be seen as the most craven capitulation yet to an unjustifiable act of government intimidation.
ABC Disney is in a brutal situation. The administration can inflict enormous damage to its bottom line. If the company defies, it will have to weigh that against the value in defending the principle that the American government has no business dictating who gets to talk on television late night or an incredible resource during these times. You should absolutely check that out, and that is your bonus episode on a Sunday morning. Back tomorrow morning with the normal episode, and I’ve got a lot to say at the beginning of tomorrow’s episodes to make sure you check that out.
See then