Who here has seen Kimmel’s new show? Is it any good? It got a lot of hype at first, but I haven’t heard one darn thing about it…
It is extremely average, but is leaning in the bad direction.
Haven’t seen it, and am not planning to, but I would bet it’s another desparate attempt to “prove” that Jimmy Kimmel is straight. Sheeya, right.
JOhn.
It sucks even more then The Man Show which I didn’t think was possible.
Umm, Jimmy Kimmel is or was married and he has a son, so unless you have photographic proof of his alleged gayness, stop trying to trash peoples reputations. Here at The Straight Dope, we fight ignorance, we don’t spread it.
It was kind of surreal seeing Slash and Scott Thompson hanging out on the couch.
Jon
And everybody looks extremely BAKED on the show too.
Jon
I’m but a young buck of 22 years, and have the maturity of a 15 year old, so I think that The Man Show is fantastic, although pretty crude. However, I don’t think that Kimmel’s late night show is that good. It’s a little surprising to be honest, because I know that Bill Simmons of espn.com Page 2 fame is one of his writers, and I think that Simmons is hilarious. In the late night pantheon, I put him above Kilborn, but behind Conan, Jay, and Dave.
First, a man can be married and have a son and still be gay. I would think that any reader of the Dope would know that by now.
Second, I didn’t say he was gay, nor was I trying to trash his reputation. (Which I’m currently reading as “being gay == trashed reputation” something I’m having a hard time reading as anything but 'phobic.) I’m simply saying I think he tries too hard to prove he’s straight, whether he is or isn’t. It’s like after “Ben Stein’s Money,” where he frequently played around verbally with Ben, he felt his own reputation was “trashed” so had to do things like “The Man Show” to (over-)compensate. Some people find it funny, I simply found it sad.
If you want to jump to conclusions based on a few wryly posted words, that’s your problem. But flaming me for it is not “fighting ignorance.”
JOhn.
If you’re not saying whether he’s gay or not, then why did you put the ‘Sheeya, right’ in your first post?
I wanted it to be good - I watched a few of the early ones. I don’t know if it’s improved, because there was nothing special that made me want to keep checking on it to see if it was getting better or not. No ‘hook,’ - no 5 questions, Headlines, top 10 list, etc.
I know a gimmick doesn’t make a show good, but I would probably flip over every once in a while if I thought '11:15 - he’s about to do his nightly (whatever)…"
As I said, I find it to be sad that he has to try so hard. When one over-compensates, as I percieve he does, it does little to bolster the argument. I watched a couple episodes of “The Man Show” and certainly saw plenty of ads for it (when I was too lazy to zip through them on the TiVo), and it all came off as horribly desparate. “We’re going to fulfil the male stereotype to the hilt, even if it kills us!” It was almost self-mockery. (Maybe that was the point, but they sure seemed earnest about it.)
I used to very much enjoy watching him on “Ben Stein’s Money,” since he seem to have quite a wit. I like that in a tv personality. I feel it too bad that he went and sullied (my opinion) his reputation with things like “The Man Show”.
(BTW, you just gonna leave the “gay == trashed” argument where it lay? Just curious.)
JOhn.
Your first post was essentially: “He tries to ‘prove’ he’s straight. Yeah, right.”
Now you’re saying that all that means is that he’s trying to hard? The “Sheeya, right” wasn’t sarcasm meaning “we know he’s gay”? I’m having a hard time reading your original post and coming out with the meaning you claim.
Yes. I agree that saying someone is gay is not trashing somebody. It wasn’t my argument. I’m not Payton’s Servant.
I think the show has been rather uneven, in part because it is live. Letterman and Leno and John Stewart may be taped in front of an audience, but they get the chance to tighten up transitions and other sloppiness in the editing room before airtime. Kimmel’s show seems a bit sloppy, probably because they don’t have that chance.
However, I also think that while Kimmel can be funny, he’s not charismatic enough to carry this show.
I will admit, though, that when Snoop Dogg was the co-host, there was a night where they got spectacularly drunk onstage. One of the guests was a woman who was showing how to deep fry anything. The very drunk Kimmel started deep frying random crap, including an audience-member’s wristwatch. It was fascinating in a train-wreck kind of way.
Bad. Stupid. Proves that Kimmel needs someone more professional and polished to play off of (like Ben Stein or Adam Carrolla). He’s a second banana, not the lead guy. The live setting works against him, the guest host thing seems like a desperate attempt to give him that someone to play off of without getting upstaged regularly. Cousin Sal was dull on Win Ben Stein’s Money and annoying here. Does he have dirt on Kimmel, or is Jimmy following the Wayans family method of nepotism?
I saw Joel Hodgson’s name in the writing credits, I hope the money’s good, because this is another stinker in his post-MST3K career.