Jimmy Kimmel tried to be the Marty McFly of American politics last night, interrupting a 2007 interview between his past self and Donald Trump.
Trump’s (second) first 100 days had Kimmel looking back at simpler times, when Jimmy Kimmel Live! welcomed a Trump who was then merely the host of The Apprentice. Kimmel noted in particular a “very orange” early episode of JKL, which featured both Trump and comedian Carrot Top.
“For me, there’s nothing more painful than watching old episodes of my show,” Kimmel told viewers. “But in this case…” With that, he cued up a clip from his 2007 interview with Trump—the future president’s first appearance on the show.
“What a handsome idiot I was,” Kimmel remarked as he watched the clip. That’s when, through the magic of visual effects, 2007 Kimmel broke the fourth wall and began chatting with the Kimmel of 2025.
While 2007 Kimmel was frustrated to have his interview with Trump interrupted, 2025 Kimmel used the opportunity to warn his former self about “the orange lunatic.” After some confusion over whether he was referring to Trump or Carrot Top, the 2007 Kimmel finally began to heed the warning.
“That cannot be the president of the United States,” he said of Trump. “Who’s in charge of Medicare? The doctor from Oprah?”
“How are you alive?” the younger Kimmel asked his older self at one point.
“At this point, I’m running purely on spite,” Present-Day Kimmel replied.
While the host tried to urge his younger self to tell people not to vote for Trump, he gave up when Past Kimmel pointed out that Present-Day Kimmel’s constant pleas for that didn’t work.
After that 2007 visit, Trump would go on to guest on JKL three more times through May 2016.
This was not the first time Kimmel has interacted with his younger self. Back in 2023, Kimmel celebrated JKL’s 20th anniversary by bantering with the version of himself that hosted the show’s 2003 premiere. The two Kimmels covered similar territory, with modern Kimmel asking his past self to “take a guess who was president up until a couple years ago.”
“You know what, actually? I’ll let it be a surprise for you,” the present-day Kimmel finally relented.
