Jimmy Kimmel: My past on The Man Show gives me credibility to talk about serious topics

Vulture

In a wide-ranging interview with New York Magazine, Kimmel was asked if The Man Show could be done in today's pop-culture climate and whether it makes him cringe. “I look back at every show I’ve ever done and cringe,” he says. “My vision of hell is a bunch of monitors with my old shows running on them.” But Kimmel says in our current scrutinized culture, The Man Show, which ended in 2003, would probably have bigger ratings because of all the controversy it would generate. Kimmel also thinks his past Man Show persona has, in an odd way, has given him credibility to speak on serious issues. Kimmel recalls having a conversation with Ellen DeGeneres. “I remember telling her that the country has come a long way (on gay rights) and reminding her that President Obama pretended to be against gay marriage for quite some time,” he says. “Not that I was explaining anything to her, but to hear someone like me talk about equal rights for homosexual people hits harder than when people hear her talk about it. To hear the guy from The Man Show talk about that in an inclusive way — I have some credibility.”