Jimmy Kimmel Is Late Night’s First Grandfather Since Johnny Carson

We now know why Monday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! was canceled at the last minute. Jimmy Kimmel was at the hospital for the birth of his granddaughter, making him the first sitting late-night host since Johnny Carson to become a grandparent.

Kimmel announced the birth of his first grandchild during his monologue on JKL Tuesday. The host’s daughter Katie Kimmel, whom he had when he was 23 with ex-wife Gina Kimmel, and her husband Will Logsdon welcomed a daughter named Patti on May 19th, Kimmel shared. The birth led to Kimmel cancelling last night’s taping.

Kimmel being Kimmel, he couldn’t resist playing a prank on his Aunt Chippy as he called her, ostensibly to share the happy news:

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At 57, Kimmel is relatively young by late night standards. Both Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are older, and neither are approaching grandparent territory just yet. David Letterman and Jay Leno remained at the helm of their respective shows into their sixties, but neither have grandchildren to this day. Neither do Jimmy Fallon nor Seth Meyers, who remain the youngest of the network hosts aside from the soon-to-exit Taylor Tomlinson.

Johnny Carson had one known grandchild during his tenure on The Tonight Show. As a child support court battle eventually revealed, one of Carson’s sons had a child out of wedlock in 1986. Carson’s son is said to have abandoned the child and her mother, possibly at the behest of Carson himself.

Kimmel first revealed his daughter was expecting in a rather unexpected fashion: via a pre-taped bit at this year’s Disney upfronts in which the host jokingly offered to sell his grandchild’s naming rights to the highest bidder.

Our congratulations to Kimmel and his family.