Jimmy Kimmel is staying put at ABC.
The late-night host has signed a new three-year deal with the network, entertainment president Channing Dungey announced Tuesday at the network’s upfront presentation.
Kimmel, as in recent years, was on hand for the presentation to skewer the network he has called home for more than a decade. His time roasting ABC came one day after he served as Kelly Ripa’s first substitute co-host on Live With Kelly! — also produced by ABC — after the exit of Michael Strahan.
In addition to serving as host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which continues to gain ground opposite Jimmy Fallon on NBC and Stephen Colbert on CBS, Kimmel will host the Emmys for ABC in September.
Kimmel, who has been at the network since 2003, most recently signed a two-year contract extension in 2014. This latest deal will keep him on ABC through the fall of 2019 and make him the longest-running host in late night.
This is good news all around for fans of late night, as well as a sign that the genre isn’t in as much trouble as people occasionally think it is. Kimmel is now officially a late-night stalwart, no matter his position in the ratings at any given time. He isn’t just likable (all of the late-night hosts are), he’s more fun. His show often has the feel that he and his friends were partying in the basement and decided to do a pretend talk show. He’d rather make you laugh than make a decidedly ideological political point (although that does happen), which is in stark contrast to most of the other late-night fare.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member