The audience was seated, a guest chef had begun preparing food, the musical guest had given a warm-up act, and Jimmy Kimmel was in the restroom when ABC officials informed him last month that his program was being canceled.
On Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Late Show, Kimmel said to Stephen Colbert, It was around 3:00; we tape our show at 4:30. As usual, I’m typing away in my office. Someone calls me. It’s ABC. They claim to want to speak with me. This is strange because, from what I understand, they were unaware that I had performed before.
Kimmel claimed that at the time, he had five writers in his office and that the restroom was the only private space where he could answer the phone. I enter the restroom and start talking to the ABC executives on the phone. “Listen, we want to lower the temperature, they say. We’re worried about your remarks tonight, so we’ve concluded that cutting the show off the air is the wisest course of action.
The performance had to send the seated crowd home, according to Kimmel. The polenta and meatballs that chef Christian Petroni had been preparing before to the taping were thrown away. However, Kimmel admitted that it was ironic because Howard Jones, a future musical guest, recorded the song Things Can Only Get Better” for a later show.
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