Jimmy Kimmel Addresses The Elephant In The Green Room: ‘I Don’t Know If There Will Be Any Late-Night Television Shows On Network TV In 10 Years.’ (2024)

Jimmy Kimmel has been hosting and executive producing Jimmy Kimmel Live! for over 20 years now, and while there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, it feels like the late-night landscape is on the cusp of big change. Late-night television is constantly evolving, with some fan-favorite hosts such as Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, and James Corden bowing out over the years. Now, as late-night TV continues to transform, Kimmel is getting real about where he thinks it will be a decade from now, and the future looks bleak.

Late-night television has always been a place where you can watch celebrity interviews, comedy sketches, humorous monologues, and some other content that is usually not appropriate for daytime television. However, according to Kimmel, it may not last. He appeared on the iHeart podcast Politickin’ with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson, where he was asked where he sees shows like his going in 10 years, and it’s not looking good:

The internet has certainly made it easier to watch late-night television in many ways. It can be viewed at any time, and usually, full interviews and monologues, etc., are available on sites like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. However, on the flip side, while this makes the content more accessible, it also provides less incentive to watch the show when it airs on its given network.

That doesn’t necessarily mean by 2034, late-night will be non-existent, it could always move to streaming. However, considering someone who has been in this industry for over 20 years doesn’t have a good outlook on it, a seismic shift feels probable. Late-night television has been around for decades, but it’s possible the end could be coming, even if it’s not in 10 years.

While he got real about the possibility of late-night changing, Kimmel doesn’t want it to end any time soon, even though he has thought about retirement. He went on to say:

There will come a time when Jimmy Kimmel announces his eventual departure from late-night television, and even further in the future, late-night will probably dwindle down. I hope it’s in the far future. Nothing is super predictable about the future of the entertainment industry, so anything can happen. Who knows, maybe everything will be different a year from now?

However, when it comes to what we do know, Kimmel’s late-night hosting duties will continue, and his Oscars hosting gig will not. It was previously announced that he will not be returning to host the 2025 Academy Awards, revealing on the same Politickin’ podcast that balancing it and his show is “too much.” He didn’t completely count out hosting in the future, but at least for next year, that job will go to someone else, while he focuses on his show.

For now, late-night television isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Jimmy Kimmel, as his show will continue to air on the 2024 TV schedule. There is no predicting where it could be years from now, and Kimmel may be wrong, but fans will just have to continue watching late-night to make sure it sticks around. Television is always changing, and it’s hard to tell how things will end up, including the future of late-night television.