Jimmy Kimmel discusses retirement, executive producer wife wants him ‘to be able to not do’ talk show anymore
Jimmy Kimmel discusses retirement, executive producer wife wants him ‘to be able to not do’ talk show anymore
Joey NolfiMon, August 24, 2026 at 9:46 PM UTC
15
Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney via GettyKey Points -
Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Live! head writer and executive producer Molly McNearney, discussed his potential retirement on Dax Shepard’s podcast.
“I really would like him to be able to not do the show anymore so he could relax,” McNearney said.
Kimmel said his version of retirement “depends on what you mean by” the definition of the word.
Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Jimmy Kimmel Live! head writer and executive producer Molly McNearney, have weighed in on when their time on the beloved talk show might come to an end.
During a recent appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast (below), the couple responded to the host’s inquiry about their potential retirement, after Shepard admitted that he and Kimmel “always talk about it” together.
“It definitely appeals to me for the nervous system of the household,” McNearney replied. “I want him to keep fighting. I feel this sense of desire to not quit, because I think what he’s doing is incredibly important right now. Yes, I know we’re doing it in a vacuum, but I think it’s giving people a feeling that their voice is heard.”
Jimmy Kimmel hosting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’Credit: Disney/Randy Holmes
McNearney said that “it’s important” for the four-time Emmy winner to keep using his voice amid political pushback — particularly from his longtime foe, Donald Trump.
“But, as his wife, I really would like him to be able to not do the show anymore so he could relax,” McNearney, an Emmy winner in her own right, admitted.
The group then discussed the fear of retiring prematurely, with Kimmel revealing that he knows “people who’ve been in that situation.” He said they eventually “make a lesser comeback trying to do the same thing,” which he wants to avoid.
Later, Kimmel acknowledged that his 25-year-old self would think it “crazy” to walk away from hosting Live! — though he doesn’t think he’ll ever fully give up show business.
Advertisement
“It depends on what you mean by retirement. I’m never going to stop doing things,” Kimmel said. “It’s just a different scenario.”
Rumors swirled earlier this year that — amid her impending four-night stint guest-cohosting Live! — that fellow Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell was secretly mounting a “takeover” of Kimmel’s program. The former moderator of The View quickly shut down speculation, however, and later opened up on a podcastabout potentially returning to television in a more permanent capacity elsewhere.
“I suppose, because the syndication market is pretty much dead, I think I would be open to doing it on a streaming service,” O’Donnell said. “My agents are taking meetings and figuring out what would be the best option, and it would be when Trump is no longer in power. That’s when I’d want it to start, and that’s when the healing must begin.”
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
O’Donnell made headlines filling in for Kimmel during his late-summer hiatus, particularly for making repeated jokes about Trump — with whom she and Kimmel have both publicly feuded.
Watch Kimmel discuss his retirement on the Armchair Expert podcast episode above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
