Jimmy Kimmel made the move to 11:35 p.m. Tuesday and wasted no time to acknowledge the time slot change was a sign of his ever-improving career.
“I am now 25 minutes closer to my lifelong dream of co-hosting The View,” the ABC host said during his opening monologue of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Kimmel recognized the risk his network bosses were taking by pitting him against the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman and said he was taking the responsibility seriously.
Q&A: Jimmy Kimmel on His Big Move to 11:35, Hiring Plans and 'Tonight Show' Layoffs
“I understand what’s at stake here, and I don’t take this responsibility lightly, especially with the Kanye West-Kim Kardashian baby on the way,” Kimmel said. “This is the time I shine bright like a diamond.”
Kimmel’s show aired in the time-slot formerly occupied by Nightline, but he said viewers tuning in expecting the hard news show need not worry. Kimmel, too, would be tackling serious issues.
"For those of you who turned in to see Nightline, this is not it. But just because this isn’t Nightline doesn’t mean we won't talk about important issues," he said.
“Did you know Honey Boo Boo’s mother is afraid of mayonnaise?” he added, before showing a clip from TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo in which the family debates about whether mayonnaise is OK for vegetarians to eat.
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Kimmel also reprised “Lie Witness News,” in which his crew asked people on Hollywood Boulevard what they thought of the show in its new time slot -- something they shouldn’t have an opinion on, since Tuesday was its first night.
But nonetheless, the Kimmel crew found people who (when it was suggested to them) claimed to recall new episodes featuring the Pope and the Dalai Lama (he was hilarious, one woman said) and shared opinions on Kimmel supposedly ditching his suit for a T-shirt and jeans.
We’ll add video of the monologue as soon as it’s available online, but footage from his interview Tuesday with Jennifer Aniston can be viewed below.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs at 11:35 p.m. on ABC.
Email: aaron.couch@thr.com
Twitter: @AaronCouch
