Jimmy Kimmel Says He Hopes To Have Live Audiences Back Next Month – Contenders TV

Late-night television has largely been without live audiences since the start of the pandemic, but the increasingly optimistic outlook in Los Angeles means that Jimmy Kimmel is hopeful his Hollywood-based show will be able to bring back crowds next month.

Kimmel, host, exec producer and writer of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Television awards-season event that he expects to be able to bring back audiences beginning June 15.

“We are hopeful that we can let people who want to see the show into our building and rest of the staff,” he said. “June 15 is the date that the governor established as our get-back-to really-normal date, so we’re hoping that means we can get back to normal here but nobody really knows,” he said.

It would see Jimmy Kimmel Live! join The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which brought back a limited audience in its New York studio in March.

Kimmel during the conversation reflected on a tough year for late-night, both as a result of the pandemic and the behavior of President Donald Trump and some of his surrogates including Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who has been spreading his own lies about the election.

Kimmel had Lindell on as a guest this month and admitted that he’s fascinated by him.

“All I know he’s got a lot of evidence and one of these days, he’s going to reveal it to us. It turns out his head is filled with some kind of pillow material,” Kimmel said.

Check out the conversation in the video above.