Jimmy Kimmel Hints At Late Night Show Exit: “I Think This Is My Final Contract”

In a new interview, the comedian opened up about feeling like his time to leave Jimmy Kimmel Live! is coming up.

“I think this is my final contract,” Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times. “I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough.”

Kimmel has been a staple of late-night television since 2003, with 21 seasons under his belt. The host said that he’s thought about life without the show but when the hiatus hits, he misses it.

“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” he said. “Wednesday night, I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer. In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’ But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff.’”

With more than two years left on his current contract, Kimmel has time to think about what he will do next as he doesn’t have a plan just yet.

“I don’t know exactly what I will do,” Kimmel said. “It might not be anything that anyone other than me is aware of. I have a lot of hobbies — I love to cook, I love to draw, I imagine myself learning to do sculptures. I know that when I die, if I’m fortunate enough to die on my own terms in my own bed, I’m going to think, ‘Oh, I was never able to get to this, and I was never able to get to that.’ I just know it about myself.”