Jimmy Kimmel Almost Lost Late-Night Hosting Gig to Jon Stewart: ‘Sometimes It Pays to Be Cheaper’

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00:00Jimmy Kimmel almost lost late-night hosting gig to Jon Stewart.

00:04Sometimes, it pays to be cheaper.

00:07Jimmy Kimmel may be one of the kings of late-night television,

00:09but his life could have turned out very differently.

00:13While appearing on the Wednesday, October 22nd episode of Ted Danson's

00:17Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast,

00:19the Cheers actor asked Kimmel, 57, about how he got his start in the industry.

00:24I was always looking for a little extra money, Kimmel said of his early career.

00:27I made no money, and I wound up on a game show called Win Ben Stein's Money,

00:32which was on Comedy Central.

00:34That's how it started.

00:36His job as a co-host on the TV game show ultimately led to Jimmy Kimmel Live,

00:41all thanks to Michael Davies, the same guy who hired me for Win Ben Stein's Money.

00:46He was an executive at ABC.

00:48He's the producer of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which I now host, explained Kimmel.

00:53He's just a guy who recognized my talent when I was young,

00:56and he went to Lloyd Braun, who was the president of ABC at the time,

01:00and he said to Lloyd,

01:01Listen, I got this guy.

01:03I know you're looking for a late-night show.

01:05At the time, the network was seeking a replacement for Bill Mayer's talk show,

01:09Politically Incorrect.

01:12ABC initially offered the slot to David Letterman, Kimmel said,

01:15but he went to CBS instead.

01:18They were almost about to hire Jon Stewart, said Kimmel,

01:21explaining that he and the Daily Show host had the same manager.

01:24But before their manager closed the deal,

01:27Davies insisted Bruin watch a tape of Kimmel,

01:29and it eventually made its way to ABC head Bob Iger.

01:33According to Kimmel, Iger said,

01:35I think this might be the guy.

01:37Even though Kimmel secured the gig,

01:39he admitted that not hiring Stewart was a mistake.

01:42They definitely should have hired Jon, he said.

01:45If I'm in that position, there's no question I would hire Jon 100 times out of a 100.

01:50After Kimmel finally asked Iger why they chose him over Stewart,

01:54Iger said,

01:55You were cheaper.

01:56Everybody laughed, Kimmel admitted,

01:59but I knew he wasn't kidding.

02:00Sometimes it pays to be cheaper.

02:03Jimmy Kimmel Live debuted in 2003,

02:06but the late-night host said he screwed everything up in the show's early days.

02:10He recalled,

02:11I think my vision of hell is being forced to watch my first year of shows.

02:15It took us a long time to figure it out.

02:17To be continued...

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