‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ airing from Las Vegas in April
Updated February 6, 2019 - 1:08 pm
For the first time, Jimmy Kimmel is going live from Las Vegas.
Kimmel, who grew up here, plans to air the show from a yet-to-be announced location from April 1-5. The ABC stalwart is also busy developing Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club at Linq Promenade, across from Brooklyn Bowl.
JKCC is set to open this spring, or around the time the talk-show hits town. Thus, it possible or even likely Kimmel will air the talk show from his new comedy haunt (Kimmel’s reps and Caesars Entertainment officials have not yet responded to questions about where the show will be staged).
In announcing the club in October, Kimmel said, “ I have this idea that I can do my show and be out at 7:30 p.m. and then fly to Vegas for all of the action at the club and do my monologue there. I’m 95 percent sure I can make it there to do that. Also, I want the comics on my show to do their sets from Vegas. We can go live to the club and air the sets from there.”
Also a possibility is Caesars Entertainment Studios just east of the Strip on the corner of Flamingo and Koval roads. That venue has staged “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” and such eSports competitions as the Gears Pro Circuit Las Vegas Open. Caesars Entertainment has also opened the Roman Plaza at Caesars Palace for the “Today” show in January 2016.
The 51-year-old Kimmel graduated from Clark High School and attended UNLV. But he was born in Brooklyn and spent his childhood there, and has four times taken his show to shoot in front of a studio audience at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. His guests in those road shows have included David Letterman, Cardi B., Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Howard Stern John Krasinski, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael J Fox, Jay Z., and Bill Murray.
Still, Kimmel’s show and career carry a distinct Las Vegas flair. As he said in October, “My Uncle Frank worked at Caesars, my bandleader, Cleto (Escobedo III) played the Barge at Caesars, and his dad was a butler there for 30 years. The first show I ever saw was Sammy Davis Jr. at Caesars, when I was 13 years old. Vegas is an unusual place to be from.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.