Opinion : Timing is Everything in Comedy

Imagine if your job description is simply to make people laugh. You get a show on Comedy Central and host it for four years. The show at best is crude. The few minutes that I saw of one episode, was enough for me. The "jokes" were about dildos and jokes concerning sexual acts.

For some reason, ABC in all its wisdom thought, "Now THIS is the guy we want to represent us on late night." Jimmy Kimmel's "humor" included mocking sports figure, Karl Malone, making him look ignorant. Of course, a big deal was made out of it for his wearing of "black face." He later issued an apology to his audience saying, "There is nothing more important to me than your respect." He also said that since then, he's "matured." That's up for debate. I found the segment at the time not appalling because of the guise of being a black man, but the embarrassing way he mocked the guy's speech pattern and making him look ignorant. It made me cringe and wonder then how the guy felt that he was mocking.

Of all the late night hosts, he's probably one of the least funny. I watched when he had his Aunt Chippy on and Uncle Frank and even in most of those it was cringeworthy to watch. It was never a bust-out laughing type of humor, but a situation where he made Aunt Chippy mad or Uncle Frank look stupid. I liked even poor Guillermo. Of course, he made fun of him all the time as well. He made him look like an uneducated immigrant who couldn't speak English well and didn't understand American meanings to certain situations or phrases. 

He mocked Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback at an awards show, reminding him of how he had a drug problem before. He should have simply congratulated him on his success like a good person would do. In another interview with Megan Fox, she shared how a director had made her dance in a bikini under a waterfall when she was 15, sexualizing her. She said that it was a microcosm of the director's mind. Kimmel said, "Yeah, well, that's really a microcosm of how all our minds work." Nevermind, that she was telling him how uncomfortable she was as a kid being sexualized. 

Another time, he played a clip of little kids asking them how the United States should repay its debt to China. One kid said, "Kill everyone in China." Rather than cutting that from the show, like the bafoon that he is, he aired it. 

I mean, the guy isn't the kind of "comedian" that makes you throw your head back and laugh until you have tears running down your face. He's the kind of "comedian" that you remember with a cringe and an ewww. Neither is he a guy you'd add the phrase "class act" to. 

It used to be fun to turn on Jay Leno or David Letterman and get a good laugh before falling asleep. That wasn't what you got with Kimmel. From 2015 to 2025, Kimmel's ratings have dropped from 2.4 million views to 1.6 million. He, along with every other TV show, is competing with the internet. I used to flip through the late-night shows looking for the laughs, but with the new late-night guys, I stopped trying. 

Now it's all about watching online. If I want comedy, I'll pull up Dry Bar, something that even Jay Leno said that he watches. Why? The show is funny. You have comedians who aren't well known, but they find the funny in so many areas. That's what comedians are supposed to do. 

And maybe Kimmel's calling isn't really in comedy but more of a news/snarky show. He stepped in it this past week/ Before the body of Charlie Kirk was even in the ground, he was quick to throw blame around, trying to pin the murder on the side of the population that Charlie Kirk represented. In Kimmel's mind, he thinks that people who agree with you will assassinate you. Logic isn't one of Kimme's strong points.

In all the examples of Kimmel, it looks like Kimmel seems to have some real insecurities. He demeans the super successful black basketball player - that he will never ever be as good as, he demeans his relatives, who are older than he is, when he should be honoring and respecting them. With Robert Downey Jr. he could have used that as an opportunity to encourage Downey and others who might struggle with drug use, and made a true friend. Instead he mocked and embarrassed him for his struggles in front of the whole world. His latest was just bringing it up a notch. While trying to bring down a guy that had already been brought down, by a bullet in front of the world, Kimmel had to try to bring the guy lower than himself. Kirk who had the ear of the world, compared to Kimmel's mere 1.6 million. Kirk is being memorialized around the world. So Kimmel's take was to say that the people he talked to, well that's who killed you! Nevermind that it was a complete lie.

Kimmel will never be as well known as Charlie Kirk. I doubt Kimmel will even be mourned by more than his family. He will be just a blip on the radar of history. I'm not a shrink, but... I'm thinking that Kimmel is a pretty insecure little puppy. 

The only way, in his mind that he can be someone special is to make everyone who crosses his path "less than." That's not comedy. This isn't a "free speech" issue. The guy has been running his mouth with whatever thought crosses his mind, for decades. He still is. Ths is really more about class and something in the comedy world that they call, "timing." If you remember, Gilbert Gottried a comedian with a sharp sense of humor, was shut down over a joke he made following the Tsunami. It was way too soon to joke about it. It was a joke that, while funny, wasn't appropriate. He paid for that joke. That was the last we saw of him.

The same is true with Kimmel. Bad joke, bad timing, bad ratings all add up to bad luck for Kimmel. But, he's got chops. He'll do what every other millionaire comedian does. He'll get a podcast and make his money that way. Then he can be as crude and disgusting and even as cringy as he wants, and his audience will follow. 

As for me, I'd rather watch Dry Bar, where you can get a good laugh and fall asleep with a smile on your face, rather than a furrowed brow mumbling, "ewww...."

Source