Jimmy Kimmel hosts his late-night talk show in the El Capitan Theatre in the heart of Hollywood, but once each year he ventures east for a week of shows in Brooklyn.
That tradition is continuing this year, with Kimmel’s week-long set of Brooklyn episodes airing from Monday, September 28 until Friday, October 2, held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.
As has also become tradition, this year’s guest roster is a stellar one.
The Return of Stern
GettyAhead of the official announcement, Howard Stern let the cat out of the bag when he revealed he’d be appearing as a guest. Stern dropped the revelation during his SiriusXM radio show on Monday, September 14 — his first show after summer hiatus, and the announcement he’d be scaling his show down to one per week, with that show to subsequently air on HBO Max.
The appearance will be Stern’s first visit to any late-night talk show in nearly seven years.
“How can I say no to Jimmy?” Stern told listeners of Kimmel, a longtime friend with whom he vacationed in Italy a few years back. “I love the guy, and I love [Kimmel’s wife and executive producer] Molly [McNearney], and, you know, what am I gonna do?”
Stern’s previous late night talk show appearance occurred in October 2019, when he visited “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in L.A.
The ‘JKL!’ Brooklyn Lineup
On Friday, September 25, ABC unveiled the complete list of guests for the week.
Monday, September 28
Pete Davidson (“The Pete Davidson Show,” “How To Rob A Bank”) will kick things off, followed by a visit from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and a performance from TV On The Radio
Tuesday, September 29
Howard Stern will be Kimmel’s first guest. He’ll be joined by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello, who will discuss their Power To The People Festival in addition to performing.
Wednesday, September 30
Guests Billy Crystal and Mahershala Ali will be joined by musical guest De La Soul.
Thursday, October 1
Fellow late-night hosts John Oliver (HBO’s “Last Week Tonight”) and Seth Meyers (“Late Night with Seth Meyers”) will join Kimmel, along with standup comic (and “Hacks”/”Rooster” standout) Robby Hoffman.
Friday, October 2
Brooklyn week closes out with guests Paul McCartney and Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with a performance from musical guest Goose.
Is Retirement in the Cards?
During a recent appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast alongside wife Molly McNearney, host Dax Shepard asked Kimmel whether he’d considered retirement, and if he thought he might regret packing it in.
“I know people who’ve been in that situation” Kimmel replied.
“It’s funny. People make a big show of like ‘I’m done and I’m tired doing this’, and then they make a lesser comeback trying to do the same thing. That’s always a bummer. I always look at that and go, Oh, is that going to be me?’ Do you ever think to yourself, ‘How would I explain this to me at 25 years old, just giving up, just letting it go?’ I know that 25-year-old me will be like, ‘Are you crazy?’ I would have just been so excited to work at a place that had a snack table that was free,” he continued.
He pointed out that it “depends on what you mean by retirement,” adding, “I’m never going to stop doing things. It’s just a different scenario.”
