In 1963, Jerry Lewis launched a two-hour live ABC talk show from the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. The first outing was a disaster with tech screw-ups, clumsily bleeped words, and a host who was nowhere near as funny as even his most fervent fans thought he would be. With Jimmy Kimmel Live! — broadcast live on ABC from the El Capitan Theatre — history has repeated itself.
Okay, it isn't the same El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Jerry's El Capitan was over on Vine. But otherwise, Kimmel's first outing was the same kind of fiasco. And I say that as someone who thinks Kimmel is usually very funny.
Is it fixable? Of course. And they may well fix it. But the thing which has to have ABC officials removing large clumps of follicles from their executive scalps is that in no way did their star look like a star. He did not take command of the proceedings. He did not attempt to build anything out of the wreckage. He did not even look like he belonged there. (His co-host, Snoop Dogg, sure looked like he wished he wasn't, and the two of them could not have had less rapport.) Conan O'Brien didn't look half that awkward his first night, and Conan had logged a lot fewer hours in front of TV cameras than Jimmy Kimmel has.
Ted Koppel had the best line of the evening. He launched things by announcing, "There will be no special post-Super Bowl edition of Nightline tonight so that ABC may bring you the following piece of garbage." If Jimmy Kimmel Live! is going to live, it's going to require a lot more comedy and a lot less attitude.
And, speaking of Jerry Lewis…