Jimmy Kimmel recalls offer to invest in Golden Knights

When Jimmy Kimmel pulled into the parking lot outside the “Real Time With Bill Maher” studio in L.A., he noticed the open slot next to him was reserved for “D. Strawberry.”

During the Friday’s broadcast of the HBO talk show, Kimmel told Maher he’d parked next to that slot.

“I thought, ‘Darryl Strawberry is here!’ Like an idiot I’m sitting in the dressing room thinking, ‘Boy, no body has mentioned Darryl Strawberry,’ ” Kimmel said. “Then I thought, ‘Oh, Bill is Darryl Strawberry!”

The parking bumper is a joke, referring Maher’s investment in the New York Mets.

“That’s a fake name we’ve been using so people won’t know it’s me,” Maher said.

Maher then told Kimmel he’d been writing checks the entire last year, to cover debt from the Mets’ losses from 2019 and into 2020.

“We didn’t play baseball for 100 games,” Maher said. “And then when we did, we weren’t selling hot dogs.”

Kimmel then told Maher, “Your advice, when you told me about the situation with the Mets — I was offered a piece of the Las Vegas hockey team, the Golden Knights, the NHL team. They said, ‘We’d like to sell you 1 percent of the Golden Knights.’ It’s a great honor, and I thought about Bill, and I thought he didn’t seem that enthused about owning the Mets.”

“I did, until the pandemic came along,” Maher answered. “By the way, I still made out like a (expletive) bandit, even with all of that. I was right. It’s the best investment, not the Vegas hockey.”

“They went to the Stanley Cup in their first season!” Kimmel, a big Golden Knights fan, called back.

“Who gives a (expletive)?” Maher countered. “It’s hockey.”

The audience (and Maher’s show does allow a socially distant live audience) laughed.

Kimmel later referred to his comedy haven at Linq Promenade in the present tense. “I have a comedy club there,” he reminded. That’s encouraging, as for several months we have been seeking a formal update on Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club’s plan to reopen (the latest word is, it will when public-gathering restrictions are closer to full capacity).

Maher and Kimmel also bantered about Kimmel’s upbringing in Vegas, and Maher’s sidelined residency in The Mirage’s “Aces of Comedy Series.”

“The thing I miss the most in 2020 is touring. I miss Vegas, The Mirage,” Maher said. “But I couldn’t live there. I love Vegas for the weekend. You grew up there. What was that like? How did that shape you?”

“It’s funny, when people ask you about growing up in Las Vegas, it’s as if you grew up in a pirate ship,” Kimmel said. “It’s like, ‘Was it scary? Were you drunk all the time? Did you lose an eye?’”

Kimmel recalled a pandemic RV road trip he and his family made to Idaho, where he has purchased a home. They were camping, residing inside tents in a campground in Utah. Kimmel said, “Let’s drive to Vegas!”

The family pulled up and trekked to the Strip.

“We drove to Caesars Palace,” Kimmel said. “You can park RVs at Caesars Palace, and that’s where we spent the last night.”

Spoken-word performance

Brady appeared Thursday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in the popular “Mean Tweets” segment, reading abusive Twitter posts aloud. Examples: “Can we be real for a moment? Is there really anyone you’d rather see dropped in a vat of rendered bacon fat than Tom Brady?” And, “I hate Tom Brady so much, but I have no legit reason to. He seems like a nice guy. BUT I HOPE THEY BREAK HIS LEGS.” Credit to the six-time Super Bowl champ for hanging in against that blitz.

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.