Five nights a week, viewers can reliably tune into Jimmy Kimmel Live! to get the Cliff’s Notes version of what’s happening in the political world—with plenty of jokes thrown in for good measure. But, with less than two weeks to go until the presidential election, Jimmy Kimmel knows it’s no laughing matter.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday, the late-night host commiserated with Joe Scarborough about the personal toll talking about politics on a daily basis takes on their lives outside of work. Though his show may be on a break this week, Kimmel is still hard at work preparing for Election Day—and, perhaps more importantly, the day after the election.
“I have to kind of think through what I might say the next day,” Kimmel told Scarborough. “Because, you know: you’re going to have to be up the next morning talking about what happened, or what didn’t happen. And what message do you want to send to people who watch the show?”
“Most of my shows aren’t important,” Kimmel continued. “That one seems a little bit more important than others. Because I do have a lot of people kind of asking me what I think and going along with what I think. And it’s a big responsibility.” That’s especially true given that few late-night hosts have as much invested in the election as Kimmel, who has become a regular target of Donald Trump—and could easily sit atop the former president’s not-so-secret enemies list.
While Kimmel confirmed that he looks forward to the day when Trump is no longer a person he feels obligated to discuss each night, he says he also hasn’t quite processed that there are two possible outcomes to the impending election.
“I don’t feel like I’m mentally prepared for the possibility of a loss [for Kamala Harris],” Kimmel told Scarborough. “I’m not ready for it. I have to get there where I’m ready for either scenario. Or for no scenario, which might be the case for several days. Who knows.”
While Kimmel couldn’t recall exactly what he said when Trump won the presidency in 2016, he does remember “staying up almost all night… and feeling very alone.” Because he knew that his words would be important to his viewers, and that they had to be just that: his words.
“None of my writers can figure out my take on this,” Kimmel explained. “I have to tell them what it is.”
For right now, however, Kimmel is choosing to remain optimistic.
While discussing his favorite guests over the years, Kimmel said that it always comes back to presidents and former presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush. “I’m so interested in every bit of their lives; every question feels relevant,” said Kimmel. As for his very favorite guest? That one has yet to happen.
“The interview I’m most looking forward to is interviewing President Kamala Harris,” said Kimmel.