Jimmy Kimmel is no stranger to using a great gag to beef up the entertainment factor of his late night show. From the glory of “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck” to the genius of his famed Mean Tweets segment, Kimmel will stick his neck out for anything that might get a laugh. And, now, the talk show host has donned pink tights and danced in a ballet, just for us.
This is straight from the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube page, and all I can say is: Oh, my. Misty Copeland is right; Jimmy Kimmel is no slouch in the leg department. I’m also by fascinated by the fact that a middle-aged man of apparently middling physical fitness can actually stand on pointe. What is that about? Does Kimmel have an unexpected history of practicing the technique when he’s stuck on a joke he’s working on?
Jimmy Kimmel was joined in the tutorial by his trusty sidekick Guillermo. Standing on pointe notwithstanding, they both did a predictably bad job. But, Kimmel would like us to believe that Misty Copeland, the female principle dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, is jealous of the startling ease at which he picked up the varied, and super difficult, techniques of the art form.
The host began his journey to the talk show stage after memorable turns on the game show Win Ben Stein’s Money and his co-hosting gig with Adam Carolla for The Man Show. Jimmy Kimmel began his ABC talk show in January 2003, and he’s gone on to become a late night icon of gags and, well, sorta mean comedy.
This is a talk show host who’s been on the air for a little over 10 years, and Jimmy Kimmel is no stranger to controversy. During the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, Kimmel managed to piss off the entire city by declaring that Detroit would get burnt to the ground win or lose, and that the effort wasn’t worth it. That night’s show was actually pulled from the entire network. He also got on the wrong side of China, and apparently Chinese people the world over, for egging on a discussion among children about killing all the people in China.
But, what’s a little success without controversy and ballet dancing? Many comedians seem to live by the axiom that if someone doesn’t hate you, you’re doing something wrong. And, Jimmy Kimmel seems to be doing something right. Even though his show consistently trails others in the same time period, the people who love the guy really love him. If the fact that so many of his sketches end up as viral video sensations doesn’t convince everyone of that, nothing ever will.
