Jay Leno Called Out Jimmy Kimmel For Being A Snake When He Had Him On His Show Back In 2010
Variety - Jay Leno recently appeared on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” and looked back at his since-resolved feud with Jimmy Kimmel, which started in 2010 when Kimmel guested on “The Tonight Show” after Leno was reinstated as host following Conan O’Brien’s tumultuous exit.
“When Kimmel came on my show and humiliated me on my own show, I let it happen. I didn’t edit it,” Leno said. “It was my mistake, I trusted somebody. I went, ‘Ah, I made a mistake. Ok, I should pay the price.’ And it’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, we could have edited it out of the show.”
When Leno asked Kimmel in 2010 to talk about his best prank, Kimmel answered: “I told a guy that five years from now I’m going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly.”
Speaking now to Graham Besinger, Leno said he didn’t stop Kimmel from making anti-Leno jokes that night “because it happened,” referring to the infamous “Tonight Show” host switch.
“It’s real — it happened. It’s my mistake. That’s how you learn,” Leno added. “It’s not good TV for me because it started a whole thing that continues to this day, really. But it’s okay, it’s alright. He’s a comic — you do what you gotta do. I mean, I wouldn’t have done it, but that’s okay. That’s alright. It is what it is.”
Leno and Kimmel have since settled their feud, starting with Leno’s decision to call Kimmel after the latter’s son had heart surgery in 2017. Kimmel has said he “made peace” with Leno due to the kind gesture.
So, like me, this is a little TV drama you probably missed unless you were weirdly into late-night talk shows in 2010. I was, but I religiously only watched Conan O'Brien's show back then. So this story was totally unbeknownst to me until I saw that above clip last night on twitter of Leno on (checks notes) Graham Besinger's show. After hearing how upset he sounded, I searched for the clip of Kimmel going after him and this was the best I could find.
Yikes.
Here's the cliffs notes version of this "feud".
There was a whole mess involving Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel back in 2010.
Long story short- Leno retired from “The Tonight Show” after 17 years, Conan took over, the ratings tanked (thanks to NBC execs), and they panicked.
So what did they do? They brought Leno back.
That move pushed Conan back out the door, and suddenly the network was running “The Tonight Show” like it was a game of hot potato.
And in the middle of all that chaos? Jimmy “Voice of the Millennials" Kimmel. He saw an opportunity to take shots at Leno, and grabbed it with both hands.
Leno, to his credit, tried to keep things civil, and laugh the insults off. Kimmel proceed to just fucking unload on the guy. Just starts lobbing insults and jokes at Leno like he’s roasting him at a Friars Club- only it’s not a roast, it was the man’s own fucking show.
Leno talked with Bill Maher about the whole thing a couple years ago.
Digging these above clips up, I also came across this one from Kimmel's show shortly after he got his own show.
He can argue he was a friend of Conan's all he wants, but he clearly had an axe to grind with Leno. Because this isn't normal.
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It's one thing for David Letterman to feel the way he did about the whole thing. He experienced a similar situation himself. So he's talking from personal experience.
But Kimmel was just being an antagonizing prick.
Fast-forward to 2024. Leno, sitting down in that interview with Graham Bensinger, looked back on the whole thing, and you know what he says? “It was my mistake. I trusted somebody.”
Let that sink in.
The guy got humiliated on national TV and his takeaway isn’t “Kimmel’s a snake”.
It’s “I should’ve known better.”
That’s a dude with some old-school backbone.
Meanwhile, Kimmel was still out there pretending like he didn’t sneak into the henhouse and piss in the feed.
His idea of a prank? He told Leno (jokingly), “I gave a guy my show, then I took it back almost immediately.”
That’s not a prank, that’s just being a dickhead with a punchline.
And yet, when Leno heard that Kimmel’s little kid had heart surgery in 2017, he picked up the phone and called.
No cameras. No grandstanding.
Just a man doing the right thing.
Talk about taking the high road.
That’s when Kimmel finally “made peace.”
Of course he did.
Hard to keep up a feud when the other guy is busy being an actual human being.
I used to fucking love The Man Show back in the day.
It felt edgy, and like one of those things you couldn't believe was on basic cable back at the time.
Adam Carolla and Kimmel had a natural rapport, and they were legitimately funny.
Kimmel actually seemed like a guy you would want to grab a giant pint with and chant "ziggy zaggy".
But the more than time has gone on, the more he's changed.
Or so I thought.
Seeing and reading shit like this makes me think I just never really knew the real Kimmel, and maybe he's been a smug asshole since the beginning?
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Kimmel’s now a "safe" comic.
He plays to the coastal crowd that thinks sarcasm is personality.
He panders to the crowd that appreciates the low-hanging fruit that is political comedy.
Late-night used to be a fucking knife fight in a phone booth.
Carson, Letterman, Leno, those guys didn’t just host, they owned the room.
(Sidebar - if you've never seen The Late Shift, it's a great watch.)
Now we’ve got Kimmel, who looks like he’s constantly waiting for someone to tell him how great he is.
Jay Leno might’ve made some messy decisions, but he showed up, did the work, and took the heat.
Kimmel showed up, kicked a guy while he was down, then hid behind “It’s just comedy!” when things got awkward. There's a reason late night comedy and talk shows have become irrelevant today. It didn't become softer overnight. It got smug. And Jimmy Kimmel is the face of it.
p.s. - credit where it's due. the Andy Milonakis skits still play today.
p.p.s. - as do all the juggy segments