Jimmy Kimmel says he offered Stephen Colbert a new late-night home this summer, but the former Late Show host apparently isn’t ready to get back behind a desk just yet.
In a new interview with Variety’s Michael Schneider promoting the new season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Kimmel confirmed that he invited Colbert to join the rotating lineup of guest hosts filling in for him during Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s summer run. Colbert politely declined.
“Of course, I asked him, and I think it feels premature,” Kimmel said. “But I told him, ‘Anytime you want to host, it doesn’t matter if it’s the summer, I’ll gladly step aside.’”
Kimmel’s summer guest-host roster this year has so far included Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, and Colman Domingo, while Anthony Anderson, Rosie O’Donnell, and Jelly Roll are set to step in next month.
The ABC host, who has assumed late night’s top spot at 11:35 since The Late Show’s cancellation, jokingly thanked CBS for the ratings boost.
“The ratings are very strong, which we are very grateful to CBS for their wisdom,” Kimmel told Variety. “We were doing pretty well before that, but that really helped.”
Kimmel’s ratings have indeed been unusually strong. As LateNighter was first to report, Jimmy Kimmel Live! posted the highest monthly ratings average of its 23-year run in June, with the show averaging 3.15 million viewers per night, up 24% from May, and 505,000 adults 18–49, a 112% month-over-month increase.
“There are still a lot of people watching late-night television,” Kimmel told Variety, arguing that the linear audience remains significant even as viewers increasingly watch clips on YouTube and other platforms. “And I include the other shows in that.”
Season 5 of Kimmel’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will stream on Hulu.
