Both Bill Maher And Jimmy Kimmel Tensed Up When Jay Leno's Late-Night Scandal Was Brought Up

Summary

• Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel discussed Leno's firing following his late-night scandal.
• Maher was defensive of Leno while Kimmel was critical.
• Leno believed he and Kimmel were friends despite past misunderstandings, with apologies exchanged for past actions.

Throughout television history, many of the best talk show hosts have become very famous, including Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel. Thanks to Leno's years hosting The Tonight Show, fans want to know everything about himm including if he is one of the richest talk show hosts and if he lives beneath his means. Similarly, fans want to know about how rich Kimmel is and about his family.

Thanks to Leno's many years of success and his controversial behavior, many of his peers have talked about him a lot. One example of that is when Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel began talking about Leno during a podcast and they both notably seemed very uncomfortable.

This article will reveal what Bill Maher and Jimmy Kimmel said about Jay Leno's firing from The Tonight Show. Then, the article will look at what Leno said about his relationship with Kimmel after being called out on Bill Maher's podcast.

Jimmy Kimmel And Bill Maher Both Seemed Tense While Talking About Jay Leno's Scandal

In June 2022, Jimmy Kimmel was a guest on the "Club Random with Bill Maher" podcast. During the resulting conversation, the two talk show hosts discussed one of their most successful and controversial peers, Jay Leno.

Amazingly enough, both Kimmel and Maher seemed uncomfortable as they discussed Leno. However, Kimmel seemed uncomfortable at first and Maher didn't seem to be enjoying the conversation later on.

As the conversation began, Maher spoke about the controversy surrounding Leno and Conan O'Brien fighting over who got to host The Tonight Show. Maher also brought up Leno's second exit from The Tonight Show when Jimmy Fallon replaced him. Based on the way that Maher spoke about both subjects, it seemed clear that he felt bad for Leno.

"For this one coveted spot, the host of The Tonight Show, it was the holy grial of comedians that it would be passed on. So, obviously, it's the super bowl trophy. They both want it, and, I don't know. I find something wrong about the hatred of the people who, 'Oh, you went for it and got it and won.' And then, by the way, he was like number one, they fired him twice for the sin of being number one in his time slot."

Throughout the controversy surrounding Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, several talk show hosts weighed in on the scandal. Two examples of that include Howard Stern and David Letterman, who hilariously called Leno out.

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• Arsenio Hall
• Dennis Miller
• Jimmy Kimmel
• George Lopez
• Patton Oswalt
• Howard Stern
• Rosie O'Donnell
• Johnny Carson
• John Oliver
• Joan Rivers
• Bill Hicks
• Andy Richter

In Jimmy Kimmel's case, he went a step further by agreeing to appear on Leno's talk show via satellite only to confront the host. Since Kimmel has always sided with O'Brien, it makes sense he didn't exactly see eye-to-eye with Maher's description of the situation.

What was surprising about the situation, however, was how uncomfortable Kimmel seemed with what Maher was saying. After all, Kimmel can be very confrontational but in response to Maher's claim that Leno was fired for being number one, Kimmel initially seemed reluctant as he disagreed.

"Yeah, well, I don't know it that's why they fired him. But, yeah."

From there, Maher claimed that agents representing O'Brien and Fallon convinced NBC to fire Leno two times. In response, Kimmel told Maher he thought the situation was more complicated than that.

First off, Kimmel explained to Maher that NBC didn't promise The Tonight Show to O'Brien out of the kindness of their heart. Instead, NBC told O'Brien that he would take over The Tonight Show five years before Leno's first exit to keep him from going to another network.

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Kimmel then stated that O'Brien waited five years for NBC to follow through with their promise, only for them to break the deal very quickly. Kimmel also stated his opinion that Leno knowingly undermined O'Brien during his brief Tonight Show tenure. Kimmel stated that he believed that what Leno did to O'Brien was part of a "diabolical" plan to get The Tonight Show back.

After Maher defended Leno again, Kimmel then revealed something that was mostly secret up until that point. While talking to Maher, Kimmel explained that there was a possibility that Leno was going to move to ABC after his Tonight Show exit. Since Jimmy Kimmel Live! aired on ABC, Kimmel revealed to Maher that he was asked if he would be willing to move his show's time slot back.

As Kimmel explained, ABC contractually needed his permission to move the show back and Leno called him to discuss it. According to Kimmel, Leno called him "a lot" and he eventually agreed to move his time slot. That made Kimmel feel like Leno and him were becoming friends. However, Leno stopped calling once NBC made him a deal to stay there which made Kimmel upset.

As Kimmel was explaining that he felt misled by Leno, Maher seemed very uncomfortable. After he'd previously spent several minutes defending Leno, Maher quietly responded to Kimmel's revelation while seeming taken aback. "I, yeah, either I forgot that or... Right, okay. Well, I, I, I understand."

Kimmel then finished up the conversation about Leno by stating he has lots of friends so he doesn't need to worry about having Leno in his life. That said, earlier during his conversation with Maher, Kimmel stated that he no longer had any ill feelings for Leno. Kimmel explained that was the case since he and Leno had spoken since everything went down.

Jay Leno Thinks That He And Jimmy Kimmel Are Friends

Roughly a month after Jimmy Kimmel's appearance on the "Club Random with Bill Maher" podcast, Jay Leno was a guest on the show. Unsurprisingly, Leno and Maher discussed Kimmel. When that subject came up, Maher told Leno that he wanted him and Kimmel to be friends. In response, Leno remarked, "I think we are.", meaning Leno believed he and Kimmel were friends.

Leno also went on to lavish praise on how good Kimmel had been when he hosted The Academy Awards.

After praising Kimmel, Leno began to discuss what led to the ill feelings that once existed between them. From Leno's point of view, Kimmel's frustrations with him began because he was a huge David Letterman fan. Leno explained to Maher that he believed Kimmel sided with Letterman during their public feud.

From there, Maher asked Leno about what Kimmel said about the discussions they had about potentially working together for ABC. In response, Leno admitted that he and Kimmel spoke a lot when he was potentially moving to ABC and then he stopped calling when he went back to NBC.

While speaking to Maher, Leno apologized to Kimmel for how he handled the situation. "I heard Kimmel talk to you about that. That I had called him and I did. And I didn't realize that I was supposed to do a follow-up call with him and I certainly apologize for that." Moments later, Leno apologized to Kimmel a second time while reflecting on how he treated him.

"We became friends and then that didn't happen, and it became public, and I suppose I should have called Jimmy and explain to him again, but I didn't. I don't know why I didn't. I just didn't. I thought he probably figured out. But I think maybe he was hurt by that, and I apologize to him for that."