DREAM ON:JImmy Kimmel (with Scarlett Johansson) has spent 10 years at midnight but now has to figure out what flies at 11:35 p.m. (ABC via Getty Images)
DREAM ON: Jimmy Kimmel (with Scarlett Johansson) has spent 10 years at midnight but now has to figure out what flies at 11:35 p.m. (
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Jimmy Kimmel’s first guests will be Jennifer Aniston and the rock band No Doubt when his late-night talk show moves to 11:35 p.m. on Jan. 8.
“We are also getting a new set and some new suits for Kimmel and our band, the Cletones,” executive producer Jill Leiderman tells The Post.
“Plus, I believe our green room will now serve more mini-quiche.”
Jokes aside, Team Kimmel is also preparing for a cutthroat booking war with time-slot rivals David Letterman and Jay Leno, both also on at 11:35.
“We do expect strong competition between the three network shows at 11:35, but we’re up for it,” Liederman says.
“Word travels fast. Stars want to have a positive, gratifying experience when visiting a talk show and be associated with a brand that cranks out high-caliber work.
“We’ve built a strong track record of satisfied A-list stars who work with us, then come back again and again for more since they trust us. So, we encourage them to tell their friends.”
The ABC talk show — which now airs at midnight — is swapping places with “Nightline.”
Here’s more of our interview:
Q: You were doing great at midnight. Why make the change?
JL: [ABC] made this choice, and they want it to succeed. They’re excited for us to expose our work to an even bigger audience, so they are launching a country-wide no-sleep campaign.
Q: Will the tone of the show change? Jimmy has already said he’ll cut back on the “penis jokes.”
JL: After 10 seasons delivering a monologue and two guest interviews night after night, Jimmy’s voice is very well-defined. He instinctively knows what material works and what doesn’t. We’re excited to have even more viewers and will promptly induct them into the legend of “Bumping of Matt Damon [a long-running Kimmel gag, pretending he had no time left to interview the waiting movie star].
Q: Jimmy recently signed on for another two years — through 2015. What role did the time change play?
JL: You’d have to ask Jimmy. I’m not involved in his negotiations.
Q: Is this still the Jimmy Kimmel show? Or is this now Jimmy Kimmel hosting ABC’s 11:35 talk-show franchise? In other words, if Jimmy left, would ABC replace him or would the show end?
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” has become what it is today based on the merits of Jimmy’s extraordinary work ethic, his smarts, his creative comedic sensibility and his values. Though it may look easy to host a show night after night — and there are many more hosts swimming around on television now than there were a decade ago when “JKL” launched — there’s only a tiny handful of people who can actually do it right.
Jimmy is wired for this gig. He learned by studying Johnny Carson and David Letterman. He’s a thoroughbred. There’s also a tremendous amount of heart behind our show.
We’ve always been the underdog and we like it that way — it fuels us to push harder.