Clownish Toronto Mayor Rob Ford made a cringe-worthy appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Monday – and laughed off the funnyman’s suggestion that he check into alcohol rehab for his problem drinking.
Kimmel started pummeling the portly Canadian pol seconds after Ford walked onstage and tossed a few T-shirts to the wildly cheering audience.
“Why are you dressed like a magician?” Kimmel asked as Ford appeared in a black suit and shirt with a bright red tie and matching pocket square.
He then told Ford – who has admitted smoking crack and been caught on video in a series of embarrassing drunken escapades – that Toronto residents flooded Facebook and Twitter with complaints about the mayor’s appearance.
“I hope you remember that clown you’re about to trot out is a very sick man,” one typical message read, Kimmel said.
Ford at first took the ribbing in stride – as Kimmel introduced him by saying, “Our first guest tonight has tripped, bumped, danced, argued and smoked his way into our national consciousness.”
But he grew nervous as the host showed videos of assorted Ford gaffes, including a cellphone video of the mayor ranting about wanting to kill someone.
Ford claimed he didn’t know who he was talking about in the video.
“You have no idea?” an incredulous Kimmel asked. “You have that many enemies that you don’t know which one this was?”
Kimmel also played a video from a city council meeting in which Ford mimed a drunk driver and another that showed him throwing — not handing — candy canes to children during a Santa Claus parade.
The red-faced mayor stood next to a video screen and was asked to comment about each of them.
Kimmel earlier dabbed sweat pouring off of Ford’s forehead with tissues and asked Ford why he had agreed to come on the show.
“Why are you here? What good could come of this? Have you ever seen the show?” said Kimmel, who had repeatedly skewered Ford on the program.
Kimmel also told Ford that if he’s an alcoholic, and drinking enough that he would try crack cocaine in his 40s, “and you don’t remember it, maybe that’s something that you might want to think about, like talking to somebody.”
Ford shot back his head and laughed before saying he “wasn’t elected to be perfect.”
“I was elected to clean up the mess that I inherited, and that’s exactly what I did,” Ford said, defending his record as mayor.
The audience applauded after Kimmel told Ford that accepting help “is nothing to be ashamed of” and would set a “good example for other people who might be in a similar situation.”
When asked again about getting help, Ford said: “Talk is cheap, action speaks louder than words. We’ll let the people decide on Oct. 27. I’m just a normal, average, hard-working politician that’s real.”
Ford made international headlines last year when he acknowledged having smoked crack while in a drunken stupor. He has resisted pressure to step down and is seeking re-election in October.
Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother who traveled with him to LA for the appearance, later told The Toronto Sun that the mayor “was a little upset” after appearing on the show.
The Sun reporter wrote that he heard the mayor in the background of the phone call saying that he was “set up.”