Jimmy Kimmel Reveals He Was ‘Intent’ on Retiring Before Writer’s Strike Shutdown: ‘It’s Kinda Nice to Work’

Jimmy Kimmel was considering saying goodbye to late-night.

In the first episode of the Strike Force Five podcast on Spotify titled, “Five Late Night Hosts Talk at the Same Time for the First Time,” hosted by Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host revealed that he was thinking about retirement. 

“As you know, I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started,” Kimmel told his co-hosts. “And now I realize, ‘Oh yeah, it’s kinda nice to work.’ When you are working, you think about not working.”

Meyers chimed in, calling Kimmel the “Tom Brady of late-night” because of his thoughts about retirement without officially going through with them.

“I’m Tom Brady without any rings or any fingers,” Kimmel quipped. 

Meyers, who is the host of Late Night with Seth Meyers, asked Kimmel to confirm if he was actually serious about retirement. 

“I really was,” Kimmel said. “I think I told you that privately.”

Fallon added, “I don’t think we took you serious.” 

“I was very, very serious,” Kimmel shared. “And then having the summer off. I normally have the summer off. You guys don’t get that. I enjoy getting summers off. I enjoy the fact that you don’t get them even more. It makes it all the sweeter.”

Added Kimmel, “I like getting the summer off better when I’m getting paid to get the summer off.”

In May, all late-night shows went dark as the Writer’s Guild of America strike took effect. 

Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered in 2003. In June, the host addressed how his contract was set to expire in 2024.

“I wish I knew what I was gonna do,” he said on Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast. “I have moments where I go, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’ And I have moments where I go, ‘What am I gonna do with my life if I’m not doing this anymore?’ It’s a very complicated thing. And there are practical considerations, and there are family and friend considerations and co-worker considerations. And eventually, I am going to have to stop doing this. I’m not going to do this forever. I would not be honest at all if I said that I have decided one way or the other. I’m thinking about it a lot, though.”

While he’s not on TV right now, Kimmel is focusing on the Strike Force Five podcast, which he and his co-host are doing to benefit their employees who are out of work. 

Strike Force Five was created after the men had a series of private Zoom calls every week to discuss the serious issues that surround work stoppage. 

“What happened instead was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations,” a press release for the podcast states. “Now, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver invite you to listen in on their once-private chats on this all-new podcast.”

Strike Force Five will have a limited 12-week run on Spotify. 

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