Jimmy Kimmel - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Jimmy Kimmel biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American television talk-show host and comedian.

Biography

Early life

Kimmel was born in New York, but grew up primarily in Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas and later transferred to Arizona State University.

Career

He began working in the entertainment industry as a radio character in Phoenix, Arizona for the KZZP afternoon show, alongside his friend, radio personality Kent Voss. Later, Kimmel worked at KZOK in Seattle, Washington with Voss as co-host of The Me and Him Show. Kimmel eventually left KZOK and worked for several different radio stations: WRBQ in Tampa Bay, KCMJ-FM in Palm Springs, California (where Kimmel convinced Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern), and 93.7 KRQ in Tucson. After leaving KRQ, Kimmel found lengthy employment for the Kevin and Bean morning show at KROQ, Los Angeles, where he was known as "Jimmy the Sports Guy" for five years.

The launch for Kimmel's television career and celebrity status was Kimmel's co-starring role as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money which aired on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and everyman personality was a counterpart to Ben Stein's sleepy humor and intellectual elitist attitude and earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host. In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's money, Kimmel was also the co-host and co-creator (with Adam Carolla and Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001 and was replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental who, eventually, was replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left the Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

Kimmel, Carolla, and Daniel Kellison's success with The Man Show allowed them to create and produce other TV shows under the banner Jackhole Industries, including Crank Yankers for Comedy Central and later MTV2, on which Kimmel plays the characters Elmer Higgins, Terrence Catheter, "The Nudge", Karl Malone, and himself and "The Andy Milonakis Show" for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film "Windy City Heat", which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for FOX NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, the popular morning show Live with Regis and Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Howard Stern. Kimmel is a three time host of the American Music Awards and emceed the Comedy Central Roasts of both Hugh Hefner and Pamela Anderson.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel will be the host of their new game show "Set For Life". [1]

Personal life

Kimmel has stated that he suffers from narcolepsy.

Kimmel is an avid New York Mets fan and attended Game 3 of the 2006 National League Division Series held in Dodger Stadium.

Kimmel is currently dating comedienne Sarah Silverman.

References

External links

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