It takes a brave soul to challenge Leno, Letterman, Conan, and Kilborn for late-night supremacy. It takes a certifiable one to challenge them all at once. Enter Jimmy Kimmel: The 35-year-old frat-friendly comedian -- who cohosted ''The Man Show'' and ''Win Ben Stein's Money'' -- will yuk and yak his way into the talk-show wars with ABC's ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' (debuting Jan. 26, weeknights, 12:05 a.m.). But the new guy wants America to keep expectations in check. ''It's really just 'The Byron Allen Show' with Jimmy Kimmel swapped in,'' he notes. Curious nonetheless, we dropped by his Hollywood HQ and put him in our guest chair.
When I walked in here, I expected you to be watching football and drinking beer.
Yet here we are, sipping white wine and talking about the opera. I will be farting shortly, so stand back.
What do you have that Chevy Chase, Rick Dees, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Pat Sajak, and Magic Johnson don't?
A show? My greatest fear is that my name will be at the end of that list.... The one thing I will do is work very hard, which I don't know that Chevy Chase did. Or Sinbad.
How are you bending the late-night rules?
I'm not going to do a monologue. I don't know why it's necessary.... I will have guest cohosts, which has been done before, but, like, on ''The Mike Douglas Show.'' I want to pair those people against guests, odd pairings. If you had Snoop Dogg and Ben Stein on at the same time, it would be guaranteed funny.... I want to have a little TV on my desk. If there's a Jerry Lewis telethon on, I'll be able to see how much they've raised. If Jay Leno's halfway through his first guest, I'll be able to look in and see what's going on -- and maybe if it's a really good guest, encourage the viewers to switch over and come back later.
I understand that you have narcolepsy.
People make like it's a big deal. I just get very tired at certain points of the day and I take pills.
Are you going to incorporate that into the show?
I have two real goals. Number one is I want to win a ''Soul Train'' award for something. My other thing is I want to take a long nap on TV.
Do we really need another late-night talk show?
No. But what am I going to do -- say no? They're paying me MILLIONS!
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