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Jimmy Kimmel reflected on the first night of his show's 20th anniversary. Jimmy Kimmel recalls his first night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a comedy-themed talk programme that started in 2003.
Following 1991's Into the Night With Rick Dees, this was the network's first typical late-night chat programme.
Among all previous hosts, including Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, and Kilborn, Kimmel has proven to be the genre's longest-serving host.
On Thursday, a primetime Jimmy Kimmel Live! anniversary special relived some of the show's early days by reuniting the original guests from the first night: George Clooney, Snoop Dogg, and Coldplay.
Kimmel reflected on the inaugural night of the programme and offered some previously discovered details on the anniversary special episode.
"I really recall some pretty particular, non-on-air details about that night. "I made the extremely naive mistake of spending nearly two full weeks leading up to the broadcast preparing on a piece dubbed "Jimmy Says Goodbye to Cable," the host said.
He went on to say "The plan was for me to say goodbye to all of these different cable shows. So I bid farewell to Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," as well as Christopher Lowell on HGTV, Larry King, and SportsCenter. "I travelled to New York, Connecticut, and Orange County, and I was all over the place shooting this part."
"And I also was part of a Super Bowl special for MTV the day before my premiere in San Diego. So I awoke in San Diego, boarded a bus, and travelled to Los Angeles to perform the concert. In the bus from San Diego, I watched George Clooney's movie, the one he was promoting."
"I was completely unprepared for the spectacle. I didn't have many jokes prepared. That night, I had a severe cough and was really unwell. I couldn't stop coughing just before the performance began. And the stage manager refused to give me $2 to buy cough pills at the next-door souvenir shop." He went on to say.
"Fortunately, a woman who was doing my hair offered me $2, and I raced in and grabbed the roll of cough pills," he added. I ate them all on my way into the studio and managed to keep it together without coughing during the speech. But I recall being furious at the stage manager even while doing the play."
