Prior to hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, Jimmy Kimmel was most recognized for his role as the host of Comedy Central’s The Man Show alongside Adam Carolla.
Together with Carolla and Daniel Kellison, the now 57-year-old comedian was involved in creating the show, which interestingly enough, was initially funded and presented to ABC. However, ABC turned it down, leading to Comedy Central premiering the show in June 1999.
This lively sketch comedy program showcased provocatively dressed women called the Juggy Dance Squad and featured Bill “The Fox” Foster exhibiting his remarkable talent for quickly downing two beers.
Kimmel and Carolla hosted the show until 2003, when Kimmel left to host Jimmy Kimmel Live, though the show continued for one more season with two new hosts – Joe Rogan and Doug Stanhope.
Kimmel got in hot water back in 2017 when clips of the comedian impersonating Karl Malone in blackface on The Man Show surfaced, though he didn’t apologize publicly until the George Floyd protests in 2020.
Now that President Donald Trump is a frequent target of Kimmel on his show, many Trump supporters have been responding posting clips from The Man Show, with Kimmel now responding in a wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone.
Before Jimmy Kimmel started ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, he was perhaps best known as the host of Comedy Central’s The Man Show with Adam Carolla.
The 57-year-old comedian co-created the show with Carolla and Daniel Kellison, which, ironically, was originally paid for and pitched to ABC, though they declined, with Comedy Central debuting the show in June 1999
Kimmel got in hot water back in 2017 when clips of the comedian impersonating Karl Malone in blackface on The Man Show surfaced, though he didn’t apologize publicly until the George Floyd protests in 2020
When asked if it’s ‘fair game’ that Trump supporters post clips of him asking women, ‘What’s in my pocket?” from two decades ago, Kimmel agreed it was, though he added those calling him a hypocrite are perhaps hypocritical themselves.
‘Yeah, it’s fair game. I think it’s kind of funny, because the very people who are using those videos as an example of why I’m a horrible person were probably the biggest fans of the show at that time,’ Kimmel admitted.
‘We did the show a little tongue-in-cheek. I mean, if you really watch the show, we are making fun of ourselves through almost the whole show. It was not meant to be taken literally that men are superior to women, but for some people, it was,’ Kimmel admitted.
He admitted, ‘I just didn’t realize until the last season that what the show was really about was the friendship between me and Adam Carolla, the chemistry that was there. It was meant to be Homer Simpsonesque. But you can pull things out of context and then they are taken literally. And that’s just how it goes.’
Detractors would also often criticize Kimmel for crying on the air during his monologues, though he pointed out that he even cried on The Man Show.
‘I cried on the last Man Show, which is kind of funny. I just have a hard time keeping my emotions within,’ Kimmel admitted.
‘My father is like that. And honestly, it’s embarrassing to me. And I know a lot of the women that work here would be like, “Oh, I think it’s great. It shows a good side of you.” But if I could turn it off, I would,’ he added.
The backlash against Kimmel is nothing new, with Fox News’ Sean Hannity showing clips from The Man Show in 2018 to point out Kimmel’s ‘unrelenting hypocrisy.’
When asked if it’s ‘fair game’ that Trump supporters post clips of him asking women, ‘What’s in my pocket?” from two decades ago, Kimmel agreed it was, though he added those calling him a hypocrite are perhaps hypocritical themselves
‘Yeah, it’s fair game. I think it’s kind of funny, because the very people who are using those videos as an example of why I’m a horrible person were probably the biggest fans of the show at that time,’ Kimmel admitted
Detractors would also often criticize Kimmel for crying on the air during his monologues, though he pointed out that he even cried on The Man Show
Kimmel responded at the time, ‘That show was always tongue-in-cheek. And some people enjoyed it for the wrong reasons.’
‘But I think you can put a lot of shows into that category. And it was a show that people liked and we had fun doing it and I learned a lot doing it,’ he added.
He also illustrated one of the reasons why he and Carolla decided to leave the show in that interview.
‘Adam was talking about the dad of one of his friends. And he was talking about what an idiot this guy was. This guy would say, “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.” And Adam said that intending to illustrate how dumb this guy was and instead our studio audience laughed,’ Kimmel said.
He added in 2011 that the studio audience became ‘unruly’ and there would be lines around the block with the men waiting to see the show ‘drinking all day long.’
