Jimmy Kimmel REVEALS: I Got Fired So Many Times Because of My Behavior..

Jimmy Kimmel 0:00 It feels selfish sometimes to be happy. It's hard to figure out how to be happy. There's no logical reason why we shouldn't be happy. It doesn't make sense. [beep]

Jay Shetty 0:09 Jimmy Kimmel's been hosting his late night show for over 20 years. Jimmy, you don't do a lot of interviews. What does it feel like to be on the other side?

Jimmy Kimmel 0:18 Putting yourself out there is hard. I started in radio. You're already halfway hidden, and nobody sees you. You don't have an audience there to not laugh if you're not funny.

Jay Shetty 0:29 When everyone's firing you, letting go of you, telling you this isn't a great idea, how do you hold on to an idea when everyone's telling you it's terrible?

Jimmy Kimmel 0:36 Pure delusion.

Jay Shetty 0:39 Has talking about your emotions always been something that you found challenging?

Jimmy Kimmel 0:43 I feel like I've, um, matured a lot, thanks to my wife.

Jay Shetty 0:47 In what way?

Jimmy Kimmel 0:48 No, don't ask her.

Jay Shetty 0:49 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 0:50 Oh, she's standing. She wants to be asked. Oh. All right, before she gets up here, Jay, I should just say... [beep]

Jay Shetty 0:57 You've been very open about your son's heart condition.

Jimmy Kimmel 1:00 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 1:00 And that's been something that I imagine is extremely difficult.

Jimmy Kimmel 1:04 To stop and think about someone else and their child. [audience cheering]

Jay Shetty 1:13 The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty.

Speaker 1:17 The one, the only Jay Shetty.

Jimmy Kimmel 1:20 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 1:22 I am so excited to be here tonight at The Greek Theatre in LA with the one and only Jimmy Kimmel. Make some noise, everyone. [audience cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 1:29 Thank you. Thank you for having me, Jay. Uh, I want you to know that my first question, as it always is, because I'm never... I'm interested. I was watching you, and, uh, when you had people stand up, and you said, "Stand up if you've ever worried about what, how you looked." And I was thinking, I was wondering, 'cause I couldn't see the audience, if anyone didn't stand, because I think everybody... And if there was a person who's never worried about how they looked, that's the person I wanna hang out with, uh-

Jay Shetty 1:56 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 1:56 ... after the show. But I said, "What is the dre- you know, what is the...?" Because I w- you know, I want to fit in. They said it's elevated casual. I was like, "All right. Well, okay, I'll find something that seems to fit that category." And then I come here, and you are dressed like Adam Sandler.

Jay Shetty 2:12 [laughs] I'm not wearing shorts.

Jimmy Kimmel 2:16 Is this-

Jay Shetty 2:16 I'm not wearing shorts.

Jimmy Kimmel 2:17 Is this technically elevate? I mean, what is it elevated from?

Jay Shetty 2:20 This is, this is... I don't know what this is, but I assume it's elevated.

Jimmy Kimmel 2:22 This is what you wear to go to 7-Eleven.

Jay Shetty 2:25 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 2:26 There's nothing... This is just casual. This is not [laughs] ... This is just level casual is what it is.

Jay Shetty 2:32 Jimmy, this is not The Roast of Jay Shetty.

Jimmy Kimmel 2:34 Oh, is it not? Okay, sorry.

Jay Shetty 2:35 I think, I think you're at the wrong-

Jimmy Kimmel 2:36 I was told differently.

Jay Shetty 2:37 I think you're at the wrong event. I think we're gonna see you out. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 2:41 Stand up if you've ever eaten a whole pizza by yourself.

Jay Shetty 2:45 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 2:49 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 2:50 All right, Jimmy, we're three minutes in, and you've started roasting me already. I'm, uh-

Jimmy Kimmel 2:53 I'm sorry.

Jay Shetty 2:53 I'm, uh... Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 2:53 It's my, it's my nature. I was telling you, I was... Why it was confusing to me because you're talking to these people, and everybody's got these great stories, and you're hypnotizing them with your eyes. I know what you do.

Jay Shetty 3:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 3:07 You know like 85% of this audience is here w- in the hope they might get to have sex with you, right?

Jay Shetty 3:12 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 3:15 It's why I showed up.

Jay Shetty 3:18 [laughs] Stop. So how does this go, Jimmy? How does that work between me and you?

Jimmy Kimmel 3:24 What, sex?

Jay Shetty 3:25 Yeah. How does that... [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 3:28 Well, when, uh, a host and a, his guest fall very much in love-

Jay Shetty 3:32 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 3:34 ... they go into the dressing room, and, uh-

Jay Shetty 3:37 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 3:37 ... and I'll show you from there.

Jay Shetty 3:39 [laughs] Yes, that's right. My wife would not approve. Thank you so much. [laughs] That's the only reason. Thank you so much, man.

Jimmy Kimmel 3:46 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 3:46 I appreciate it. [laughs] Jimmy, you don't do a lot of interviews, but you agreed-

Jimmy Kimmel 3:51 No one wants to talk to me.

Jay Shetty 3:52 [laughs] You agreed to do this one. Why now? Why here? And what does it feel like to be on the other side?

Jimmy Kimmel 3:59 First of all, my wife loves you, and so I've become exposed to you-

Jay Shetty 4:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 4:05 ... your magic. We have some mutual friends, and really, I said to my wife, I said, "Hey, Jay Shetty asked me if, uh, if I would do his show." I said, "Should... What do you think?" She said, "Well, I'd like to hear you on that." And I said-

Jay Shetty 4:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 4:18 "All right. Well, you're not listening to me at home, so maybe-

Jay Shetty 4:21 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 4:23 ... maybe we can accomplish something tonight."

Jay Shetty 4:24 We'll make some magic happen. Where is she? Is she here tonight?

Jimmy Kimmel 4:27 I... She is here, but I don't know where she's sitting.

Jay Shetty 4:29 There-

Jimmy Kimmel 4:29 She may be-

Jay Shetty 4:30 Hello. Hello.

Jimmy Kimmel 4:31 Oh, there she is.

Jay Shetty 4:32 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 4:34 If you guys just want to write-

Jay Shetty 4:35 Thank you for making this happen

Jimmy Kimmel 4:36 ... write on a card what you think of her, we'll hand them to her after.

Jay Shetty 4:40 [laughs] Thank you for making this happen.

Jay Shetty 4:44 Uh, Jimmy, let's start there actually. You know, tonight has been all about what we don't do because of what people think of us, the things we worry that people are perceiving about us, the judgments, the criticisms that people have of us. Talk to me about a time in your life when you really felt, like, imprisoned by that, if ever.

Jimmy Kimmel 5:01 Oh, very much so, all the time, not just... I mean, really, honestly, like, if I'm at an event and I'm not dressed properly, I feel... In fact, I went to a wedding recently. A very good friend invited me to be in his wedding party, and he was not great with, uh, uh, the details of the party. But again, another dress code situation. This one was, um, festive attire, which means nothing to me.

Jay Shetty 5:26 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 5:27 And I was in the wedding party, and I wore what I thought was festive attire, and I showed up, and everyone else was in a black suit.

Jay Shetty 5:34 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 5:35 And so I'm the idiot in all these wedding photos. And that, you know, that's the... I feel uncomfortable with the simple things like that. But I... You know, putting yourself out there is hard, and I'm not talking about show business necessarily. I think that, uh, there are a lot of people that I've known over years and years who are really good at something. And you, you try your best to encourage them to do that thing that they're good at, and they're either going to do it or they aren't. And sometimes for them, you saying they're good at it is enough.And that's enough for them, and they don't want to threaten that idea. They don't want you to ever think, "Oh, you weren't good at that."

Jay Shetty 6:17 Hmm.

Jimmy Kimmel 6:18 So they leave it.

Jay Shetty 6:19 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 6:19 A- a- and I think that's, uh, to me, that's so sad, that people will do that. Because I do think that there are so many people who know they have this potential or this talent or whatever it is, and they just, they don't use it because they don't wanna be proven otherwise. Because everyone in their, in their little circle thinks it, and they don't wanna change their minds. And, uh, I know that's an inelegant way of, of saying it, but you just really need to do it. You have to do it. And I, for me, I was fortunate because I started in radio. And when you're on the radio, you're already halfway hidden.

Jay Shetty 6:56 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 6:56 You know? Nobody sees you. You don't have an audience there to not laugh if you're not funny.

Jay Shetty 7:01 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 7:02 So you just kinda have to assume you were-

Jay Shetty 7:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 7:05 ... and you keep going. And I was able to take baby steps from being on the radio to being the sidekick on a game show to being a partner on a, a comedy show to eventually doing my own show. And I'm not sure if I would've been able to take that big leap. I, I was fortunate, really, genuinely fortunate and very lucky to have been in a situation where I could take those steps one by one. [audience applause] Oh, yeah. I mean, it's just, a lot of it is luck, you know?

Jay Shetty 7:36 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 7:37 That's the other thing that is, is, is a sad truth, but a lot of it is luck. Now you have to be ready w- when you get that moment, or you, you are lucky when you have that moment of fortune. You have to be prepared, and you have to do whatever it is that you need to do to accomplish whatever goal you would like to accomplish. But still, luck is a big part of it.

Jay Shetty 7:58 Yeah. I wanna, I wanna get to that,

Jay Shetty 8:00 but I wanna, I wanna go backwards a little bit. Because I read somewhere that you actually grew up wanting to be a scientist.

Jimmy Kimmel 8:05 No.

Jay Shetty 8:05 [laughs]

Speaker 8:06 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 8:07 N- I don't know where you read that, but that is false.

Jay Shetty 8:10 Okay.

Jimmy Kimmel 8:11 Was I farting into Ziploc bags and leaving them-

Jay Shetty 8:13 [laughs]

Speaker 8:14 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 8:14 ... under my sister's pillow? Yes. If that-

Jay Shetty 8:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 8:17 ... if that's what you consider to be science, I wanted to be a scientist.

Speaker 8:21 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 8:21 But, [laughs] no. Science was never, um, my thing. I wanted to be an artist when I was a kid.

Jay Shetty 8:26 An artist?

Jimmy Kimmel 8:26 I liked to draw. That was my thing. I wanted to draw.

Jay Shetty 8:29 And you were good at drawing?

Jimmy Kimmel 8:30 Yes, I liked-

Jay Shetty 8:31 What would you draw?

Jimmy Kimmel 8:32 I'd draw my, my classmates, which they never liked.

Jay Shetty 8:37 [laughs]

Speaker 8:37 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 8:38 I would draw, you know, anything. Uh, superheroes when I was a little kid, caricatures of people. I'd draw my family. I'd draw David Letterman on the television as I was watching him. Pretty much, I still to this day, if I'm, if I have a pen and a piece of paper, I'll just scribble whatever, uh, whoever is sitting in front of me as we're sitting there.

Jay Shetty 8:58 Wow. And so, so you'll still do it today?

Jimmy Kimmel 9:00 I do, yeah.

Jay Shetty 9:01 Have you done it on the show ever?

Jimmy Kimmel 9:02 A couple of times. It's hard to be funny and draw at the same time.

Jay Shetty 9:06 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 9:06 They're like, they're totally different parts of your brain.

Jay Shetty 9:09 They definitely got that wrong. The, the media never gets anything wrong, right? So-

Jimmy Kimmel 9:13 Yeah. No, yeah

Jay Shetty 9:13 ... the scientists versus the artists.

Jimmy Kimmel 9:14 In this case, it's your fault.

Jay Shetty 9:15 Yeah. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 9:15 In this case, it's yours. Yeah.

Jay Shetty 9:18 I'm always fascinated

Jay Shetty 9:19 by what people wanted to be when they were growing up and then what they end up becoming, because I think there's so much hidden in childhood, and there's so many experiences, so many things we hear, say, the, the subjects we study at school. But you've had this history of pranks always being a central pillar. And for most of us, maybe you did a few pranks when you were a kid. How many of you did some pranks when you were kids?

Speaker 9:42 Whoo.

Jay Shetty 9:42 Any pranks? Yeah? All right. A few of you. Uh, I, I did a lot of pranks when I was kids, but sometimes you leave those behind, but you actually lost jobs because you did pranks-

Jimmy Kimmel 9:51 Yeah

Jay Shetty 9:51 ... on your colleagues.

Jimmy Kimmel 9:53 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 9:53 So walk-

Jimmy Kimmel 9:54 Bosses. Bosses, yeah.

Jay Shetty 9:55 Bosses, right.

Speaker 9:56 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 9:56 All right, so w-

Jimmy Kimmel 9:56 Is this gonna be where I crack open this Junie and there's a cockroach in it or something like that?

Jay Shetty 10:01 [laughs] Because you planted it.

Jimmy Kimmel 10:03 'Cause there's-

Jay Shetty 10:03 The sabotage

Jimmy Kimmel 10:04 ... there's a prank?

Jay Shetty 10:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 10:05 Yeah, I love pranks. I think the reason that I love pranks is because I grew up in a family that would scream and yell when I did something, and I got a great reaction out of it. I mean, the, really, the, if you don't wanna be pranked, just don't react. That's the way to go. But I grew up, my Aunt Chippy is a very loud woman. She is on my show regularly. We are still, she's 85 years old. Most recently, I mean, I started by putting little explosive in her cigarettes, and-

Jay Shetty 10:32 [laughs]

Speaker 10:32 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 10:33 ... tying cans to the back of her car. And she would go to work, or she'd be in the casino in Las Vegas smoking, and pow, the cigarette would blow up.

Speaker 10:42 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 10:43 And then she'd call and curse me out over the phone, and I loved it. And, um, we, s- now that I have a TV show, I'm able to escalate so-

Jay Shetty 10:52 [laughs]

Speaker 10:52 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 10:53 A couple of months ago, this has been a dream of mine since I saw those Waymo cars. She doesn't know about these. She lives in Las Vegas, and she's never seen a self-driving car.

Jay Shetty 11:03 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:03 So I had a guy pretend to be a chauffeur in a Waymo car, pick her up at the airport.

Jay Shetty 11:09 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:10 He gets out of the car, he opens the door for her. He says, uh, uh, "I have to, do you mind? I have to use the restroom, and then we'll go." She's like, "Yeah, no problem. Go ahead."

Speaker 11:18 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:18 He closes the door of the car, and off it goes.

Jay Shetty 11:23 [laughs]

Speaker 11:23 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:27 And there was some real concern that this might kill her because she's 85.

Speaker 11:31 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:33 So I wrote to, uh, each of her daughters, my three cousins. I said, "Listen, I, here's what I'm planning to do to your mother, and I need your permission beforehand because I don't wanna kill her on TV, and-

Jay Shetty 11:43 [laughs]

Speaker 11:44 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:45 ... if I do, I need someone to blame." Within seconds they all said, "Oh, definitely do it. Definitely do it."

Jay Shetty 11:50 [laughs]

Speaker 11:50 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 11:51 So we've got a, a sick family, but a fun family.

Jay Shetty 11:55 [laughs]

Speaker 11:56 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 11:56 But talk to me about when you weren't, you didn't have the resources to pull it off your own show, and you were losing jobs over pranking your bosses.

Jimmy Kimmel 12:04 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 12:04 Like, first of all, where does the audacity come from? And second of all, how do you keep doing it? I believe it wasn't just once.

Jimmy Kimmel 12:11 I wouldn't call it audacity so much as I would call it stupidity.

Jay Shetty 12:16 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 12:17 Well, I thought that... I was a dish jockey. I did a morning radio show, and I worked at a lot of radio stations in a lot of cities. If, if you've lived in a city, I've probably had a job and been fired in that city. And each time, I thought the bosses would be on board with the idea that the listeners would think it was funny if I was torturing them, because then they could drive to work and go, "I love hearing this, these guys screw with their bosses. I wish I could do that, but I'm enjoying it through them." And they never liked it at all.

Jay Shetty 12:50 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 12:50 They would tell me they were gonna like it when they hired me, and then when it happened, they hated it. Just dumb stuff. Once we were golfing, and I unlatched their golf bags on the back of the carts-

Jay Shetty 13:03 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:04 ... and then forgot about it for like six holes, and then ran over their golf clubs. Um, once I s- completely smashed the inside of, uh... I had a hot dog. It's a long story and-

Jay Shetty 13:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:17 But there was a hot dog that he, uh, didn't eat, and he threw in the garbage. And every night I would sneak in and put it in, in his drawer in his desk.

Jay Shetty 13:25 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:27 And each day he'd open his desk, and there'd be a hot dog in there-

Jay Shetty 13:29 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:29 ... and he didn't know why, and he'd throw it in the garbage again.

Jay Shetty 13:33 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:33 And then each time I would get in there, and I'd put it back in the desk.

Jay Shetty 13:37 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:37 And then he started locking his, his office.

Jay Shetty 13:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:40 So I climbed in over the... You know the offices have that, like, kinda really cheap, uh, ceiling? I, I lowered myself in, and as I lowered myself, completely the desk collapsed, the shelves collapsed.

Jay Shetty 13:57 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 13:58 It looked like the Northridge earthquake had happened only in his office.

Jay Shetty 14:02 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:03 I knew that I'd be fired if he found out, so I just got out of there and locked the door, put the hot dog in before I left.

Jay Shetty 14:10 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:13 And never mentioned it again.

Jay Shetty 14:16 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:17 [laughs] I don't know what he thought happened, but eventually they'd fire me. Eventually they'd have enough of my nonsense.

Jay Shetty 14:20 Well, how did that conversation go, the firing? Was it a conversation, or you just got a message? Like, what did that look like?

Jimmy Kimmel 14:25 Well, it would go like this. Now, of course, there were different situations. But generally it would go, "So you know how you work here now?"

Jay Shetty 14:34 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:34 "Tomorrow you won't be working here."

Jay Shetty 14:37 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:39 "And in fact, we're gonna get a box, and we're gonna go in your office, and we're gonna get all your shit, and we're gonna walk you out to the parking lot."

Jay Shetty 14:45 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 14:45 I have to say, to this day, I, I hate firing people. It crushes me to fire somebody, even if they deserve it, even if they've done something bad, because I've been fired so many times. And it sounds funny, these stories are... I know, I get that they're funny, but it, it wasn't funny at all at the time.

Jay Shetty 15:02 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:03 Uh, you know, I was making, like, $18,000 a year and then had to go home and, first of all, tell my wife at the time that I'd been fired again for being an idiot. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 15:12 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:12 And that we're gonna have to pack all our stuff and move to Tucson. And, um, that happened over and over and over again.

Jay Shetty 15:20 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:20 Until eventually I found a radio station here in LA, KROQ-

Jay Shetty 15:25 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:25 ... that valued my n- commitment to nonsense. And, um, I also grew up a little, and I learned, like, okay, don't call your boss's wife at home on the air and dig into their personal life.

Jay Shetty 15:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:40 Those kind of lessons. Those important lessons that you learn along the way. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 15:44 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 15:44 And I was able to keep that job until I, I got a job in television.

Jay Shetty 15:48 [laughs] I love your commitment to the prank.

Jimmy Kimmel 15:51 I have things-

Jay Shetty 15:51 Like, I love the commitment

Jimmy Kimmel 15:52 ... going on right now that would blow your mind, that I can't even talk about because they're bubbling. But what my thing is, my wife does not like when I... My wife, I got her a, um... Did you know you can get a personalized license plate for anyone's car?

Jay Shetty 16:07 No. How does that work? Explain that to me.

Jimmy Kimmel 16:10 Well, what you do is you fill out the forms, and then you forge the person's signature at the bottom.

Jay Shetty 16:14 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:16 And you write on the thing what you would like the, their personalized license plate to be. In my wife's case, I made it We Be Jammin'.

Jay Shetty 16:25 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:28 And then the license plate came in the mail, and I went out in the garage and I screwed it onto the car. And I waited until she was, you know, until she came out to the car, and she wasn't happy.

Jay Shetty 16:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:40 Um, but I've done that with a lot of people. My band leader, who plays the saxophone, I made one that says Señor Saxy.

Jay Shetty 16:46 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:46 And I put that on his car. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 16:50 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:51 I got the idea at a U2 concert. Somebody had a license plate said U2 Fan. I thought, "Oh, okay."

Jay Shetty 16:57 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 16:58 "Maybe I'll do that in a bad way."

Jay Shetty 17:00 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 17:02 What's a, what's a firing conversation that went wrong? What's the worst time you've fired someone and you're like, "Oh, I shouldn't have done it like that"?

Jimmy Kimmel 17:08 Oh, well, one time it went on for, like, three and a half hours.

Jay Shetty 17:11 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 17:11 It was me-

Jay Shetty 17:13 What, because of you?

Jimmy Kimmel 17:13 ... hugging and them crying and just kinda going around in circles over and over again and... until finally I was like, "All right, I gotta go pick up my kids." [laughs]

Jay Shetty 17:24 [laughs] So wait, you fired them, then hugged them?

Jimmy Kimmel 17:26 Oh, yeah.

Jay Shetty 17:27 Right.

Jimmy Kimmel 17:28 Yeah. There's always some hugging involved.

Jay Shetty 17:30 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 17:31 Yeah, it's, you know, it's not great. I f- got fired one time. And I'd been fired now so many times, I knew what was, I knew it was coming. Because the way you know is they stop yelling at you.

Jay Shetty 17:41 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 17:42 And, um, once they stop yelling at you, you're in trouble. They're like, "Ah, forget it. We don't e- Why bother? We're firing him in three weeks." But I went in, and the, it was me and my partner on the radio, and they sat us down and they said, "Listen, uh, you know, we're gonna go in a different direction" and, you know, all that bullshit that they say to you. "And, uh, this is probably best for you guys, too." And I'm thinking, "No, it's not."

Jay Shetty 18:03 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:04 And then, uh, and then they gave the whole spiel, and they were nervous, and I said, "Listen, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna come to work on Monday morning, and we're gonna pretend like none of this ever happened."

Jay Shetty 18:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:18 And there was a long moment of, of confused and terrified silence.

Jay Shetty 18:24 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 18:24 And then I started laughing and-

Jay Shetty 18:26 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:27 ... gave him the finger and left, I think.

Jay Shetty 18:28 [laughs]

Speaker 18:29 [instrumental music]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:29 We

Jimmy Kimmel 18:30 met on the show. My wife is the executive producer, one of the executive producers of the show, and, um, we made love, and I asked her-

Jay Shetty 18:38 [laughs]

Speaker 18:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:40 ... to marry me.

Jay Shetty 18:40 So it wasn't you and your guest. It was, uh-

Jimmy Kimmel 18:42 She was not a guest, no. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 18:44 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:45 It wasn't like us.

Jay Shetty 18:46 Yeah, it wasn't like us.

Speaker 18:47 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 18:47 It's terrible, Jimmy. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:48 It won't be that bad. I'm very gentle.

Jay Shetty 18:50 [laughs]

Speaker 18:50 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:51 Is it just me or does it suddenly smell like toast?

Jay Shetty 18:54 It does. It does. [laughs] You're having a stroke.

Jimmy Kimmel 18:56 Oh, wouldn't you love that?

Jay Shetty 18:58 Yeah. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 18:59 You know, I can write a nice letter. I'm good with that. But there's something about expressing myself i- in a very honest way, uh, that, uh, is difficult for me. Why is it?

Jay Shetty 19:15 [laughs]

Speaker 19:15 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 19:17 Uh, the answer's within. The answer's not within here.

Jimmy Kimmel 19:19 It's within? Shit.

Jay Shetty 19:19 Yeah. Only, only you can answer that.

Jimmy Kimmel 19:21 There's a lot of stuff in there.

Jay Shetty 19:23 Yeah.

Speaker 19:23 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 19:24 I'm not sure I wanna go rummaging around.

Jay Shetty 19:26 Do you-

Jimmy Kimmel 19:27 There's a whole pizza in there.

Jay Shetty 19:29 Do- where- [laughs]

Speaker 19:31 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 19:31 On a serious note, what's beautiful about that is you were able to hold on to a really authentic part of self-expression that was your comedy. It was something you found funny. It was something that you really believed it was something everyone would find funny. You didn't give up on that. You were able to hold onto it and find a place eventually that allows you to pull off these crazy things. How did you stay true to that when everyone's firing you, letting go of you, telling you, "This isn't a great idea," or, "It's pushing people the wrong way"? Like, how do you hold on to an idea when everyone's telling you it's terrible?

Jimmy Kimmel 20:00 Pure delusion.

Jay Shetty 20:01 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 20:01 Just, like, a lot of the things I thought were so funny weren't even funny. Like, they weren't funny. Like, I, you know, I wasn't that good at my job, and I think that's an important thing, too, because I look back at these jobs, and I go, "Well, it wasn't all their fault," you know? Like, on one hand, I feel like maybe they should've recognized that I was always a very hard worker and that I, I did have some talent. I think every one of them would tell you that. But on the other hand, like, I was kind of crazy, you know? I was doing antisocial things, and they didn't get it, and they didn't wanna deal with it. They were adults, and I was this asshole, you know?

Jay Shetty 20:35 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 20:35 This kid. And they didn't wanna deal with it. But I do have this thing where I just kind of figure, like, well, if I think it's funny, then surely there will be other people that think it's funny, and it applies to other people, too. You know, one of the best things about my job, and really about e- even when I was on the radio, is I've been able to identify and help other people who I saw as talented and who didn't quite know how to do it or, or make their way in or, and, or stay there once they got in. And that, to me, is very sa- even just putting my Aunt Chippy on television, right?

Jay Shetty 21:09 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 21:09 Now, I'm not the-

Speaker 21:10 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 21:11 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 21:11 I'm not the first person to put one of their relatives on, on television. But I just kinda looked around and go like, "Well, I think she's funny, and so I think other people will think she's funny." And the same with my Uncle Frank, her ex-husband, who was, uh, my security guard on the show before Guillermo wa- was there, and then they were there at the same time. He was just this weird, very neurotic, very, um, a- anxious former cop from New York who only arrested six people in 20 years-

Jay Shetty 21:41 [laughs]

Speaker 21:41 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 21:41 ... and

Jimmy Kimmel 21:43 had this strange outlook on life where he would take $200 out of his ATM at the beginning of the week, and then he wanted to have zero dollars in his wallet at the end of the week, and it had to be that way. And so if he had any money left in his wallet on Sunday, he'd just give it to people, like strangers.

Jay Shetty 22:02 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 22:02 He'd just hand it out to people. And he was always doing this, like, weird stuff, and I, you know, I, I... One time, my band leader on my show is my best friend since I was nine years old. We grew up across the street from each other. And I didn't know my relatives were funny until he thought they were funny. I was like, "Oh, they're annoying. They're always yelling at each other. They're, you know..." It's like, "Oh, they're coming over." He's... I said, "My Aunt Chippy and Uncle Frank are coming over." He's like, "Oh, can I come?" I was like, "What?"

Jay Shetty 22:29 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 22:29 He's like, "Oh, they're hilarious." I was like, "They are?"

Jay Shetty 22:32 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 22:32 And that clicked for me. I was like, "Oh yeah, they are hilarious." And it turned out he was right, and I've just kind of operated by that principle for my whole life.

Jay Shetty 22:42 Yeah. Talking about family, you just became a granddad too, right?

Jimmy Kimmel 22:45 I did. My daughter Katie had a baby, a baby girl.

Speaker 22:49 [applause]

Jimmy Kimmel 22:51 Probably should've got more applause for that, but, um-

Jay Shetty 22:54 [laughs]

Speaker 22:56 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 22:56 Thank you. I, I mean-

Speaker 23:00 [cheers]

Jimmy Kimmel 23:00 I feel like almost killing my Aunt Chippy got more applause than having a-

Jay Shetty 23:05 [laughs]

Speaker 23:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 23:05 ... a granddaughter. But yeah, we're very excited. She's what? Like, maybe, like, eight days old or something.

Speaker 23:11 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 23:11 Yeah. Yeah. Smoking already.

Speaker 23:13 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 23:13 Which we're, we're concerned about, but...

Jay Shetty 23:16 [laughs]

Speaker 23:16 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 23:16 How does that feel? What, what is that like psychologically, internally, mentally?

Jimmy Kimmel 23:21 I feel like, I don't know. People seem to think, like... I, I, first of all, people approach you cautiously, in a way, about it. Like, "Oh, so you're having..." Like, like I'm gonna be upset about this. Like, what kind of an asshole would be upset about having a grandchild? But I guess people don't wanna be thought of as old. And I don't really care that much about that. I'm just excited to have a little... And also, being a grandparent, I think is gonna be, first of all, an incredible way to get revenge on my children.

Jay Shetty 23:52 [laughs]

Speaker 23:53 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 23:53 Tell me how. What are the pranks that are brewing?

Jimmy Kimmel 23:56 Not even pranks, just all the things they did to me that they're gonna say. I know they're gonna go, "Don't give... Please, put them to bed before 11:00," you know? "Don't give them a bunch of Reese's Pieces." And I'm gonna nod, just like my parents do, and then I'm gonna do all the shit they don't want me to do.

Jay Shetty 24:14 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 24:16 And I think that's one of the gr- that's where the circle of life, you know?

Jay Shetty 24:20 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 24:20 But it's fun and, um, it's exciting and it's strange to see my daughter as a mom. I think that for me is, is the... It's not really about how I feel because I've always felt like the same person. I feel like I'm the same person I was when I was nine years old. But, um, to see like your daughter holding a baby and smiling is, it's, um, yeah, people know, it's great.

Jay Shetty 24:42 Yeah, absolutely. Give it up. [audience cheering] It's, um, it's beautiful to hear about that because, yeah, it's, uh, I've, I have no experience of that. I don't have kids yet.

Jimmy Kimmel 24:51 You have no grandchildren?

Jay Shetty 24:52 I don't have kids, no grandkids.

Jimmy Kimmel 24:54 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 24:54 And it, it's really fascinating watching someone you love grow into becoming someone else. Like you said it was strange watching her do it. What, what are you noticing in her that's, that feels that way?

Jimmy Kimmel 25:06 Well, she's breastfeeding, which she'd never done before.

Jay Shetty 25:10 [laughs]

Speaker 25:11 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 25:11 You know, uh, she's, um... Just seeing, my daughter is very funny. My, all my kids are really funny. My daughter Katie is very funny. She's got a very strange sense of humor. She's an artist. She makes these funny ceramics. Her name is Katie Kimmel. You could see her on Instagram and she, you will get, you will understand what I'm talking about. She does, like today she sent me, like I, I sent her a text this morning and I said, "You're not posting enough pictures of the baby on The Stream."

Jay Shetty 25:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 25:40 And so she just posted a bunch of pictures of the baby screaming and crying.

Jay Shetty 25:44 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 25:46 And the baby's wearing a onesie that says, "I'm 11 years old."

Jay Shetty 25:49 [laughs]

Speaker 25:51 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 25:52 So I know she's gonna, you know, she's not gonna be a traditional

Jimmy Kimmel 25:55 mom, but just seeing her be a mom is, is, um, it's just funny. And I, it's, it's, I think it's like a- anything. Like when I try to remember how old I am, I don't know if you ever forget how old you are.

Jay Shetty 26:08 Yeah. All the time.

Jimmy Kimmel 26:08 I have to remember how old my sister is and add three years.

Jay Shetty 26:12 [laughs]

Speaker 26:12 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 26:13 That's how I get to it. And just seeing my kids become adults and my, both of my older kids are married and to like having to pay rent and to, and be a husband and a wife is, uh, weird.

Jay Shetty 26:29 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 26:29 It's just weird, you know? It's great, but it's weird.

Jay Shetty 26:32 Yeah. They, they obviously inherited your comedic gene it sounds like.

Jimmy Kimmel 26:36 I, yeah, I don't, l- I don't, I wouldn't necessarily classify it as genius, but they are very funny and v- just very good people I think more important. No, funny's more important. They're-

Jay Shetty 26:47 [laughs]

Speaker 26:48 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 26:48 Let me rank it. Hold on a second. Yeah, funny definitely more important than good, but both important. Super important, yeah.

Jay Shetty 26:56 What, what's a part of you that you didn't want them to inherit?

Jimmy Kimmel 26:59 Um, my nose.

Speaker 27:01 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 27:03 Um, I didn't want my daughter to have my beard for sure.

Jay Shetty 27:07 [laughs]

Speaker 27:08 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 27:08 My anxiety maybe. W- but of course, you know kids, they inherit that whether you want them to or not. But I think anxiety, yeah. And I think like growing up without any money adds a measure of anxiety. But then you realize like, you know, my f- older kids, I didn't have any money when they were growing up, and now my younger kids

Jimmy Kimmel 27:29 I do. It's interesting because they somehow manage to get to the anxiety, like they find different paths to it. It has nothing, it turns out it doesn't, like for me like when I was a kid and I loved to draw I told you, I, I would get a like a set of pens for Christmas and I would never want to use them because if I used them they'd run out. And so I'd have these pens that I never used and eventually they'd just dry out because we lived in Las Vegas. And what a terrible thing. So now you know what I do? I buy a million art supplies.

Jay Shetty 28:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 28:05 And the house is like, um, a Dick Blick, you know? The, my house is just full of these art supplies and I know that I will never, I will not live long enough to use all this stuff. But knowing it's there makes me feel like I've conquered that anxiety in some way.

Jay Shetty 28:20 [laughs] By hoarding.

Jimmy Kimmel 28:22 By hoarding.

Jay Shetty 28:23 [laughs]

Speaker 28:23 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 28:24 So the reason why anyone else can't get art supplies is Jimmy Kimmel.

Jimmy Kimmel 28:27 That's right.

Jay Shetty 28:28 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 28:28 Yes.

Jay Shetty 28:30 Walk me through what anxiety really feels like at this point now in your life, how your relationship with it's changed over that time from going from being anxious about not having money, not having resources, not having a job. What does that look like as the externals change? What happens on the inside?

Jimmy Kimmel 28:46 Well, it's a lot simpler when you don't have any money because the things you're thinking about are, you know, "Do I have enough cash in my checking account to have lunch today?" To, to get a $20 bill out and like it's like, "Ooh, I have $21.18. Great." You know? And that's significant certainly, but then you get in a, a, wind up in a position where a lot of people rely on you for a lot of things and, you know, people will come to you with very serious needs, serious requests. Your relationship with people changes. It's hard to navigate that. It's hard to even find people to talk about it with. There are, as far as I know, no books on how to handle it and, um, you wind up having these kind of like intimate conversations with, um, famous people you don't even really know that well. I mean, like I know a guy who is a real like family guy, who's a very wealthy guy, he's a very famous actor and I said, um, "How many houses have you bought for your, um, your family?" And he, he thought about it for a second and he goes, "17."

Jimmy Kimmel 29:57 [laughs] That was my reaction too.

Speaker 30:00 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 30:00 And, um, you can't be the nephew anymore at that point. You're the person that people go to when they, when they need something. And it can be a lot, you know? It really can. I mean, I cert- I shouldn't complain. Now I sound like I'm complaining. Oh, Jesus. Um-

Jay Shetty 30:15 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 30:18 We all have problems, right?

Jay Shetty 30:19 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 30:19 I mean, some of them are just different than others.

Jay Shetty 30:22 Yeah. What, what do you do about that anxiety? What do you do with it? Just buy more houses?

Jimmy Kimmel 30:26 For the most part, yeah.

Jay Shetty 30:27 Yeah. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 30:28 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It depends, you know, but, um, I'm hopefully getting, uh, better about it, you know, because it's hard to explain to people when they want money, but your relationship with them is more important than that money. And then sometimes you realize, like, "Oh, wait, their relationship with me is not more important than, than the money." And that's when you have to reevaluate the relationship.

Jay Shetty 30:50 That's tough.

Jimmy Kimmel 30:51 Yeah. It's hard.

Jay Shetty 30:52 That's, that's really, really tough. I mean, yeah. Is there someone particular or someone specific that you think about when you, when you share that?

Jimmy Kimmel 31:00 My wife.

Jay Shetty 31:02 [laughs]

Speaker 31:02 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 31:03 She's sucking me dry, Jay.

Jay Shetty 31:05 [laughs]

Speaker 31:06 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 31:06 How much do I get for this?

Jay Shetty 31:07 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 31:08 Do I get paid?

Jay Shetty 31:09 No, nothing.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:09 No? Shit.

Jay Shetty 31:10 No, she made you do this for free.

Speaker 31:12 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 31:12 No, there's no one in particular.

Jay Shetty 31:13 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:13 Just, it comes up, you know.

Jay Shetty 31:15 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:15 It, it, it happens. Yeah.

Jay Shetty 31:16 In,

Jay Shetty 31:17 in my small journey with it, I've, I've definitely experienced that as well, losing people that you thought you were close to. Yeah, realizing what standard or frequency of relationship you had with someone. Like, you put them up here and you thought you had this bond, and actually you realize it was just based on finances or access, or whatever it may be.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:36 Yeah, and then sometimes-

Jay Shetty 31:37 And that happens very quickly

Jimmy Kimmel 31:37 ... you get an email from somebody you went to the sixth grade with-

Jay Shetty 31:41 [laughs]

Speaker 31:41 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 31:42 ... asking for a huge amount of money for something nonsensical.

Jay Shetty 31:45 [laughs] It's not even for a charity. It's like-

Jimmy Kimmel 31:48 No. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 31:49 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:49 Never.

Jay Shetty 31:49 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 31:49 Never.

Jay Shetty 31:50 It's crazy. What, any crazy requests you can share?

Jimmy Kimmel 31:53 Uh, you know, yeah, I've had a lot of r- crazy requests. I mean, you know, people think you can wave a magic wand and make all their problems go away, and it's not true, you know? Even if, a lot of times you give them what they want, they still have to deal with whatever got them there in the first place, so, you know, trying to keep that in mind, I think, is important. But these are not the kinds of things that occur to people when they're in a pinch.

Jay Shetty 32:16 Yeah, absolutely. You've been talking about your wife a lot tonight. And, um, how long have you been together now?

Jimmy Kimmel 32:21 We are s- celebrating our 12th anniversary in July.

Speaker 32:26 [cheers]

Jimmy Kimmel 32:26 We've been together, I don't know, like 16 years

Jimmy Kimmel 32:31 or something like that.

Jay Shetty 32:32 That's beautiful. And I, and I believe you met on the show?

Jimmy Kimmel 32:35 I did, yes. We met on the show. My wife is the executive producer, one of the executive producers of the show. And, um, we made love, and I asked her-

Jay Shetty 32:44 [laughs]

Speaker 32:45 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 32:46 ... to marry me.

Jay Shetty 32:46 So it wasn't you and your guest. It was... Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 32:49 I got right to it. Yeah, no. She was not a guest, no. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 32:52 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 32:53 It wasn't like us.

Jay Shetty 32:54 Yeah, it wasn't like us.

Speaker 32:55 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 32:55 Bit different, yeah. [laughs] This is terrible. This is, uh, this is terrible, Jimmy.

Jimmy Kimmel 33:01 It won't be that bad.

Jay Shetty 33:02 This is-

Jimmy Kimmel 33:02 I'm very gentle.

Jay Shetty 33:03 This is what all my... This is-

Speaker 33:04 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 33:05 [laughs] This is what all my British friends worry about LA being like. This is, this is what they all worry about LA.

Jimmy Kimmel 33:12 Oh, you mean all the friends who got buggered in boarding school are worried about it?

Jay Shetty 33:17 [laughs]

Speaker 33:17 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 33:17 No, they're all like, "What's, what are all the parties in LA like?" And, you know-

Jimmy Kimmel 33:20 Yeah

Jay Shetty 33:20 ... they're gonna be like, "What's Jimmy Kimmel actually like?" And I'm gonna have to show them this.

Jimmy Kimmel 33:25 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 33:25 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 33:26 Let them know. Invite them over.

Jay Shetty 33:28 [laughs]

Speaker 33:28 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 33:30 Apart from the f- pranks, what have been the... There's a lot of people out here either looking for love, who've... who are still searching. You know, everyone always says it's always hard to date in LA.

Jimmy Kimmel 33:40 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 33:40 Is that true?

Jimmy Kimmel 33:41 I think it is. I mean, I've never really been in that position. I've gone from one long-term relationship to another. But, uh, certainly people close to me in, uh, my life have, I've seen them have a really hard time, and even, like, think, like, "Oh, maybe I should move back to Chicago," and that kind of thing. And I go, "But wait a minute, but there's, there's just people here and there," whatever. And obviously, the apps have changed that a lot. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, I guess, depending what, what your intentions are. But, um, yeah, sometimes I f- feel bad for people because it, it does seem to be hard.

Jay Shetty 34:17 Yeah. What's been the secret for your connection? What's been the secret sauce to the 16 years and the 12 years of marriage?

Jimmy Kimmel 34:24 Left to my own devices, I'm not great, okay? But my wife is very good. She will say, um, she wants to, "I'm just checking in with you." And I'm like, "What is this checking in?" She probably learned it from you.

Jay Shetty 34:37 [laughs]

Speaker 34:37 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 34:41 It's like, "I'm just checking in."

Jay Shetty 34:42 That sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. There's four check-ins. There's one every week, one every month, one every quarter, and one every year.

Jimmy Kimmel 34:49 And I get nervous. I'm like, "Well, what are you checking in about?" And they're like, "What? What am I, a motel?" [laughs]

Jay Shetty 34:58 [laughs]

Speaker 34:58 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 34:58 She's like, "No, just how are you? How you doing?" I'm like, "Oh, I'm fine. What did you hear? I don't know."

Jay Shetty 35:03 [laughs]

Speaker 35:04 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:05 I have a very, I have tunnel vision, you know? Like, I got stuff I need to get done, and I wanna get it done, and sometimes I forget [laughs] that there are other human beings around me that, um, you know, would like to check in from time to time.

Jay Shetty 35:19 [laughs]

Speaker 35:20 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:20 So I've learned a lot, and I'm still not great at it, but I, I am better at it than I was. And I feel like I've, um, matured a lot, thanks to my wife and many-

Jay Shetty 35:33 In what way?

Jimmy Kimmel 35:33 In what way have I matured? Oh, Jesus Christ.

Jay Shetty 35:36 [laughs]

Speaker 35:36 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 35:37 You don't get away with saying a statement like that on the podcast.

Jimmy Kimmel 35:38 I knew you would do this, Jay. I knew it.

Jay Shetty 35:42 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:42 I knew coming in here. Um-

Jay Shetty 35:44 [laughs]

Speaker 35:45 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:45 What ways have I matured? Um. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 35:50 [laughs]

Speaker 35:50 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:50 Now when we hold hands, I don't take hers and put it behind me and fart on it-

Jay Shetty 35:56 [laughs]

Speaker 35:58 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 35:58 ... anymore. And that's a big step for me.

Speaker 36:02 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:03 All right, let me get serious here. It's hard. I make jokes when I'm confronted with a serious situation. Um, no, don't ask her.

Jay Shetty 36:14 [laughs]

Speaker 36:14 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:15 I don't know if she wants to be asked.

Jay Shetty 36:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:18 Oh, she's standing. She wants to be asked.

Speaker 36:20 [cheers]

Jay Shetty 36:24 I need a mic

Jimmy Kimmel 36:26 All right, before she gets up here, Jay, I should just say, I haven't matured. I was lying.

Speaker 36:31 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:34 I just wanted to sound... I wanted to fit in with the podcast.

Speaker 36:38 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:40 Oh, this is what it was... Yeah, right.

Speaker 36:42 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 36:43 Hi, sit on my lap. Yeah.

Speaker 36:45 No, no. I'm not gonna [laughs] sit on your lap.

Jimmy Kimmel 36:47 Come on, baby.

Speaker 36:48 I'm not gonna sit on your lap. Um, he gets uncomfortable when we talk about serious things. He's definitely maturing in that area.

Jimmy Kimmel 36:55 Oh, I don't see any evidence of that.

Speaker 36:57 [laughing]

Speaker 36:57 I'd like to say, first of all, I'm very proud of you coming here-

Jimmy Kimmel 37:00 Oh

Speaker 37:00 ... and being here.

Speaker 37:01 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 37:01 Oh, thank you

Speaker 37:02 ... because I think that's mature of you.

Jimmy Kimmel 37:06 Oh.

Speaker 37:06 Um, Jimmy is-

Jimmy Kimmel 37:07 See, okay, there's that

Speaker 37:08 ... Jimmy is incredibly self-deprecating, if you can't tell, and, um, that's his defense, which is beautiful and wonderful, and we all get to enjoy it. But I get to tell people how wonderful you are, and I love to do that. And I think one of the thing, the most beautiful things you've done in evolving as a human is sharing your story regularly on the show, fighting for healthcare for children-

Speaker 37:35 [cheering]

Speaker 37:37 ... fighting for people. I think k- I think, um, maybe you went from being a little more inward to outward over the last decade of your life.

Jimmy Kimmel 37:47 Yes, yes

Speaker 37:47 And I think it's been beautiful to witness.

Jimmy Kimmel 37:49 Oh.

Speaker 37:49 And, um-

Jimmy Kimmel 37:50 Well, thank you for bringing it out of me.

Speaker 37:51 You're welcome.

Speaker 37:52 [applause]

Jimmy Kimmel 37:53 Thank you.

Jay Shetty 37:54 All right.

Jimmy Kimmel 37:54 What a cute outfit.

Speaker 37:55 You could s- you have a lot of more work to do, though, so I'll just-

Jimmy Kimmel 37:58 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 37:58 Jimmy, Jimmy, now it's your turn.

Speaker 37:59 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 38:00 We need a, you know-

Speaker 38:01 Yeah, Jimmy

Jay Shetty 38:01 ... we'll turn, turn this into a session.

Speaker 38:03 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 38:03 Okay.

Jay Shetty 38:03 Now it's your turn. Please.

Jimmy Kimmel 38:05 Well, first of all, uh, is it just me or does it suddenly smell like toast?

Speaker 38:10 It does.

Jay Shetty 38:10 It does. [laughs]

Speaker 38:11 [laughing]

Speaker 38:11 You're having a stroke.

Jay Shetty 38:13 It does.

Speaker 38:13 He's having a stroke.

Jay Shetty 38:15 It does.

Speaker 38:15 Okay. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 38:17 Oh, wouldn't you love that?

Speaker 38:18 Yeah. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 38:21 Um, well, ye- you know, I'm always amazed at how easily these, um, kind words come out of my wife, and not just for me, but for others. Like, you... There's nobody you'd rather have give a toast at your birthday dinner because she really speaks from the heart and speaks very beautifully and is, makes people feel really good, and I don't think there's any better quality than that.

Speaker 38:46 [cheering]

Speaker 38:46 Thank you. I love you, and I love you.

Jay Shetty 38:51 I love you too, Molly. Thank you so much.

Speaker 38:52 [laughs] You're welcome.

Jay Shetty 38:53 You're the best.

Speaker 38:53 Your eyes really are beautiful.

Jimmy Kimmel 38:54 Which one of us do you love more?

Speaker 38:55 Well-

Jay Shetty 38:55 [laughs]

Speaker 38:56 [laughs] We'll see how the night goes.

Jay Shetty 38:59 [laughs]

Speaker 38:59 [laughing]

Speaker 39:00 Um, I love your wife, too.

Jay Shetty 39:02 Give it up for Molly. Oh, thank you.

Speaker 39:02 All right, goodbye.

Jay Shetty 39:03 Give it up for Molly, everyone.

Jimmy Kimmel 39:04 Thank you, Molly. I'm-

Jay Shetty 39:05 You're the best. Thank you. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 39:09 Oh, you really put me on the spot there, Jay.

Jay Shetty 39:12 Whoa, she saved you.

Jimmy Kimmel 39:13 She saved me.

Jay Shetty 39:14 She saved you. I mean, you know, I put

Jay Shetty 39:16 you on the spot, but she saved you.

Jimmy Kimmel 39:17 Yeah. No, you're right. She did.

Jay Shetty 39:18 Okay, so now we're going from couples therapy to individual therapy.

Jimmy Kimmel 39:21 Oh, okay. Great.

Jay Shetty 39:21 Um, has talking about your emotions always been something that you've found challenging-

Jimmy Kimmel 39:28 Yes

Jay Shetty 39:28 ... not useful? Like, where... On that spectrum, talk, talk to me about that. What, what spectrum is it? Like, what does that look like, like?

Jimmy Kimmel 39:36 Well, I think my dad's the same way because I hear my mother yelling at him about it. But, um, yeah, it's very... You know, I can write a nice letter. I'm good with that, but there's something about expressing myself i- in a very honest way, uh, that, uh, is difficult for me. Why is it?

Jay Shetty 39:57 [laughs]

Speaker 39:58 [laughing]

Jay Shetty 39:59 Uh, the answer's within. The answer's not within here.

Jimmy Kimmel 40:01 It's within? Shit.

Jay Shetty 40:02 Yeah. Only, only you can answer that.

Jimmy Kimmel 40:04 There's a lot of stuff in there.

Jay Shetty 40:05 Yeah.

Speaker 40:06 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 40:07 I'm not sure I wanna go rummaging around.

Jay Shetty 40:08 Do you-

Speaker 40:09 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 40:10 There's a whole pizza in there.

Jay Shetty 40:13 [laughs] When, when was the last time that you feel you did do it? That would be the best way to look at it. When was the last time you felt like you accessed that part without a letter and you were able to share that part of yourself?

Jimmy Kimmel 40:26 Oh, about 86 seconds ago.

Jay Shetty 40:28 [laughs]

Speaker 40:28 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 40:29 Um-

Jay Shetty 40:30 No, but your emotions, your emotions. Not about someone else, but how you feel about something.

Jimmy Kimmel 40:34 About someone else. Well, um-

Jay Shetty 40:35 No, no, not how you feel about someone else, how you feel about your own emotions or, or feeling an emotion that may be uncomfortable or difficult or challenging. When was the last time you feel you did do that?

Jimmy Kimmel 40:47 With our therapist last Friday at-

Jay Shetty 40:50 [laughs]

Speaker 40:50 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 40:51 ... 9:18 AM.

Jay Shetty 40:53 [laughs]

Speaker 40:53 [laughing]

Jimmy Kimmel 40:55 I, uh... It's easier with a therapist. You know, I was listening to you with Bert Kreischer.

Jay Shetty 41:00 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 41:00 You had him on your podcast.

Jay Shetty 41:01 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 41:02 [laughs] And he said something. He said that after, after he and his wife go to therapy, he declares a winner.

Jay Shetty 41:10 [laughs]

Speaker 41:13 [laughing]

Jay Shetty 41:13 Do you do the same thing?

Jimmy Kimmel 41:14 No, but I like that a lot.

Jay Shetty 41:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 41:18 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 41:19 Who wins?

Jimmy Kimmel 41:21 You know, we s- I don't think anybody wins, really. No. I think it's just helpful. I think it's really a good thing. I find it very uncomfortable, but I'm never, I'm never not glad I, I, that I did it afterwards. I, I think it's just a good thing to talk. I mean, maybe it's the reason why we can talk as humans, because w- we're supposed to and, um, I think it's good. And I think a lot of guys don't like to go to therapy, and then they're looking for somebody who's gonna be on their side, and they're looking for a referee more than a, a therapist, and that's probably not the way to go in it. I will say from my own personal experience, uh, that I, I recommend it, um, both individually and together, and I think that, uh, it's b- it's helped me a lot in my life s- to sort things out.

Speaker 42:12 [applause]

Jimmy Kimmel 42:12 You know? And I think what you do is, is, you know, is very helpful for people because, um, I mean, obviously, you know, there are a lot of people here just trying to figure out who they are and how to go about-... their lives and, and how to be happy, and it's hard. It's hard to figure out how to be happy. I mean, there's by, there's no logical reason why we should, should be happy. It doesn't make sense. There are so many people suffering and there are so many sad and bad things happening, and it's feels selfish sometimes to be happy. And there's like, oh, yeah, great. Things are going great for you, but look what's, you know, the kids don't have lunch. And I think that, uh, you, it takes a lot to, to remember that that's not good for you and it's not helping anybody. And if you really w- wanna do something, do something. Don't just worry about it. And so that's, that's something that I think is important. [audience applauding]

Jimmy Kimmel 43:06 And I also found that, like, uh, you know, sometimes people want advice, and sometimes I want advice, and sometimes people who are asking you for advice don't really want to... [laughs] They don't want advice. They just want something. And, um, I always think that when you're really down, when you're, when you're feeling low, and when you're looking for answers, helping other people is always a help. It always makes you feel better. So if there's a situation where [audience applauding] you're feeling worthless or you're, you know, you're feeling unloved or whatever, the best thing you can do is to help someone else because y- and for yourself, not even for them. It's, it's almost a, a selfish thing to do, and I think it always works.

Jay Shetty 43:56 I agree.

Jimmy Kimmel 43:57 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 43:57 I love that. [audience applauding] I love that. Um, Jimmy, you've been amazing tonight. We end every On Purpose interview with a Final Five. These questions have to be answered in one word-

Jimmy Kimmel 44:09 Okay

Jay Shetty 44:09 ... to one sentence maximum.

Jimmy Kimmel 44:12 Okay.

Jay Shetty 44:12 So Jimmy Kimmel, these are your Final Five. The first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?

Jimmy Kimmel 44:18 Well, it's not be yourself. We learned that earlier.

Jay Shetty 44:21 [laughs]

Speaker 44:23 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 44:23 Listen. Listen. [audience cheering] That's the best advice.

Jay Shetty 44:29 Who did you hear that from?

Jimmy Kimmel 44:31 I heard it from a priest. Yeah. A friend of mine who's a priest. Yeah, I said, "What do you do when people come to you and they say, 'You know, my, my son is dying, and I don't believe in God?'" He said, "I just listen to them." Good advice.

Jay Shetty 44:47 Speaking about that, you've been very open about your son's heart condition.

Jimmy Kimmel 44:51 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 44:51 And that's been something that I imagine is extremely difficult.

Jimmy Kimmel 44:55 Well, not anymore, uh, 'cause he's, he's doing great. But, um, it was, yeah, for sure. Yeah. [audience applauding]

Jay Shetty 45:02 What, what helped you at that time? What, what helps you in, in such a difficult, dire situation and-

Jimmy Kimmel 45:09 Well, number one, Children's Hospital here in Los Angeles helped, helped me. [audience cheering] The support, the support from family and strangers. [audience cheering] And I'm a religious person. I grew up, uh, going to church, Catholic, and all those things. But... And I think that the thoughts and prayers that gets thrown around a lot, people when they say they pray for you, that's-- To take a moment of your day to stop and think about someone else and their child. [audience cheering] It's a, it's a small sacrifice, but it's a meaningful one. Whether you believe in prayer or not, it's, I just think it's powerful and meaningful, and I know that's more than one sentence, but, uh, [laughs] that's, that's the answer.

Jay Shetty 46:21 Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you so much. [audience cheering] That was actually just question number one. I j- I just, I just snuck another one in there. [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 46:31 Oh, no.

Jay Shetty 46:31 Uh, question number two, what is the worst advice you ever heard or received?

Jimmy Kimmel 46:36 I, you know, I don't really have an answer to that. I think that the worst thing you can do, and I've done it, and it's something that I've learned, is to, is to lash out. You gotta take a beat and think about what you're saying because you'll wish you had.

Jay Shetty 46:58 Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 46:59 So sometimes there are people that, you know, just want you to bring down the hammer of Thor, and, um, that's, that's not usually the way I go.

Jay Shetty 47:09 I like that. All right, question number three. What's the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

Jimmy Kimmel 47:14 Well, brush my teeth.

Jay Shetty 47:16 [laughs]

Speaker 47:17 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 47:17 What, you mean besides pee? I guess, uh, yeah.

Speaker 47:20 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 47:22 You know, we have, uh, you know, we have an eight-year-old and a, a 10-year-old in the house, so he comes in, our eight-year-old, and pounces on us in the morning, and I just like to snuggle with him, and then he wants us to come to bed with him at night and put him to sleep every night, and we know that we, we shouldn't do it every night-

Jay Shetty 47:40 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 47:40 ... but we just want to, and we wanna get in there with him. And, um, most of the time we're very easy to convince, so-

Jay Shetty 47:47 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 47:48 ... those are the, you know, the best in the morning with the kids in the bed and then again at night with the kids in the bed.

Jay Shetty 47:53 I love that. [audience applauding] All right, last two questions. Uh, question number four, what's something that you used to value that you no longer value?

Jimmy Kimmel 48:03 My parents.

Jay Shetty 48:05 [laughs]

Speaker 48:05 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 48:07 No, I love my parents. [laughs] You know what? I don't drink much anymore. I, I used to, um... You know, I was never, I never, like, had a problem or anything like that, but I've just, it's less interesting to me now.

Jay Shetty 48:24 Why? Why is that?

Jimmy Kimmel 48:25 Because I'm so high all the time.

Jay Shetty 48:27 [laughs]

Speaker 48:28 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 48:31 We call that California sober, I believe you

Jay Shetty 48:33 [laughs]

Speaker 48:34 [cheering]

Jay Shetty 48:36 All right, fifth, fifth and final question. We ask this to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

Jimmy Kimmel 48:47 It's the golden rule, do unto others. That's it. That's, uh, that's the whole thing.

Speaker 48:51 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 48:51 That's the... That's all you... If we all did that, we would- we'd be doing great.

Jay Shetty 48:58 [laughs] Yeah.

Jimmy Kimmel 48:59 Yeah.

Speaker 49:01 [cheering]

Jay Shetty 49:01 Jimmy, we've got one special, uh, uh, segment to wrap it up for you.

Jimmy Kimmel 49:06 Okay.

Jay Shetty 49:06 Uh, I wanna show you something behind you, if we can get the first one up. Take a look.

Speaker 49:12 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 49:13 That's me.

Jay Shetty 49:14 What, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Jimmy Kimmel 49:17 Um-

Jay Shetty 49:17 To that self, that younger self specifically.

Jimmy Kimmel 49:19 To young Jimmy Kimmel in the seventh grade? Um, play the saxophone instead of the clarinet. You're never getting laid.

Jay Shetty 49:27 [laughs]

Speaker 49:29 [cheering]

Jay Shetty 49:29 I love it. Can we get a second up? Looking very dapper. What does, uh, what does Jimmy Kimmel need to hear right now?

Jimmy Kimmel 49:40 Get away from that young boy.

Jay Shetty 49:43 [laughs]

Speaker 49:43 [cheering]

Jay Shetty 49:44 You mean me, right? [laughs]

Speaker 49:48 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 49:48 Both of you.

Jay Shetty 49:50 [laughs] Uh, and then let's get the last one, courtesy of my team.

Jimmy Kimmel 49:53 You know, honestly-

Jay Shetty 49:54 [laughs]

Speaker 49:56 [cheering]

Jimmy Kimmel 49:56 ... I never even thought I'd own a suit, so I'm, I'm ahead of the game right now, I think. Oh, is that AI me in the future?

Jay Shetty 50:03 Yes.

Speaker 50:03 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 50:05 Oh, why is my beard the same color as it is now?

Jay Shetty 50:08 [laughs] You're aging well.

Jimmy Kimmel 50:10 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 50:10 You're aging well. What do, what do you hope you'll feel about yourself at that age?

Jimmy Kimmel 50:17 I hope I don't look like that, number one.

Jay Shetty 50:19 [laughs]

Speaker 50:21 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 50:21 I do hope I have that much hair. I have a feeling I am gonna be replaced by an AI me at some point-

Jay Shetty 50:27 [laughs]

Speaker 50:27 [laughs]

Jimmy Kimmel 50:28 ... in the future. I hope I wind up like my grandfather, and by that I don't mean dead. I mean just somebody that everybody thinks of and loves.

Jay Shetty 50:37 Give it up for Jimmy Kimmel, everyone.

Speaker 50:40 [cheering]

Jay Shetty 50:41 The best. Thank you so much.

Jimmy Kimmel 50:42 Thanks, Jay.

Jay Shetty 50:43 If you loved this episode, I need you to listen to one of my favorite conversations ever. It's with the one and only Tom Holland on how to overcome your social anxiety, especially in situations where you're not drinking and everyone else is. We talk about his sobriety journey and so much more. He gets really personal. I can't wait for you to hear it. It's gonna blow your mind. The quote is, "If you have a problem with me, text me, and if you don't have my number, you don't know me well enough to have a problem with me."