Jimmy Kimmel was emotional as he returned to his late-night show for the first time amid the devastating L.A. wildfires.
Kimmel, 57, started his monologue on Monday, Jan. 13 by recapping the “very scary, very stressful, very strange week” the people of Los Angeles have experienced since the fires began on Jan. 7. His voice broke with emotion as he said the devastating blaze has infiltrated “where we work, where we live, where our kids go to school.”
The host and his team had to evacuate the studio where they film the nightly show in the El Capitan Theatre on Jan. 8, he said, as footage of the fire that got close to Hollywood played.
“Many of us had to leave our homes in a hurry. Some of our co-workers lost their homes. It’s been terrible,” he continued, choking up again as more footage of the fires played.
“Everyone who lives in this city knows someone — most of us, multiple people — families, friends, colleagues, neighbors — whose houses burned down. And the truth is, we don’t even know if it’s over, because we had 100 mile per hour winds fueling this nightmare. As of tonight, the winds are back,” he said.
“But it has also been, in a lot of ways, a beautiful experience because once again, we see our fellow men and women coming together to support each other,” he went on. “People who lost their own homes were out volunteering in parking lots, helping others who lost theirs.”
Kimmel called the last week of life in L.A. a “sickening, shocking, awful experience” for everyone, but then shifted gears to focus on the heroism displayed by so many first responders amid the devastation.
“I want to focus on thanking those men and women – because that’s all we should be doing right now. And we should never stop thanking them. Our firefighters from L.A. were the first on the scene without hesitation. They were out there, putting out the fires as best they could. And then we had firefighters from other states coming in,” he said.
He then gave a shoutout to “our police, our National Guard, our rescue workers, doctors, the nurses, EMTs, the pilots working 12-hour shifts,” as he said, “Thank God for all of you.”
As the fires began raging last week, production on several shows was paused in L.A., including Jimmy Kimmel Live! as well as various scripted ABC shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Doctor Odyssey.
Similar precautions were taken on the CBS Studios lot, as production was paused on NCIS, NCIS: Origins, The Neighborhood and Poppa’s House. However, production resumed on Monday, Jan. 13 on closed sound stages.
The 2025 Critics Choice Awards were also postponed due to the fires. The show, hosted by Chelsea Handler, was originally slated to take place at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar on Jan. 12 but will now happen on Sunday, Jan. 26.
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Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights on ABC. Check local listings.
Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.
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