Jimmy Kimmel Hints at Possible End to Long-Standing Talk Show Run

Jimmy Kimmel may be taking a back seat as he just considered that this may be his final contract for late-night TV.

The host, 56, just confessed that he is considering leaving his long time hosting gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live as his latest contract with ABC ends.

“I think this is my final contract,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case.”

“I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good,” he added. “That seems like enough.”

The comedian told the L.A. Times that the thought also crossed his mind while preparing for his hosting gig at the Academy Awards in March.

“Wednesday night, I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer,” he recalled.

“In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’”

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EDT and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Tuesday, October 25 included Charlize Theron (The School for Good and Evil), Lewis Hamilton, and musical guest Armani White. (Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images)
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He continued, “It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it.” But he also admitted that he goes back and forth because, “then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff.’”

In what he might do if he does retire from his late-night hosting gig, Kimmel joked that he might learn “Italian” or how to play the harmonica and go fly-fishing.

“[The future Kimmel is] very busy — it’s funny, whenever I think of what I’m going to do when I stop working, it all involves more work,” he said.

Kimmel goes on to say “know exactly what I will do,” but there are still a lot of things he wants to accomplish.

“It might not be anything that anyone other than me is aware of,” he said. “I have a lot of hobbies — I love to cook, I love to draw, I imagine myself learning to do sculptures.”

“I know that when I die, if I’m fortunate enough to die on my own terms in my own bed, I’m going to think, ‘Oh, I was never able to get to this, and I was never able to get to that,’” he continued. “I just know it about myself.”