Jimmy Kimmel Reveals ABC Nearly Hired Jon Stewart for Late Night Host

Jimmy Kimmel told Ted Danson’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast that ABC was almost about to hire Jon Stewart for its early-2000s late-night slot before executives pivoted to Kimmel after Lloyd Braun watched Kimmel’s tape and brought it to Bob Iger. He said he and Stewart shared the same manager, James “Baby Doll” Dixon, who was put in the awkward position of telling Stewart the job had gone to Kimmel. Kimmel called ABC’s choice a mistake and said when he asked Iger why he’d been picked, Iger replied that Kimmel was “cheaper.” He reflected on the show’s rocky early years but noted Jimmy Kimmel Live! debuted in January 2003 and found enough ratings success to endure. The interview was taped days before ABC “indefinitely” suspended Kimmel in September amid controversy over his remarks and pressure from the FCC, a development that briefly preempted the program.