Jimmy Kimmel is honoring competitor David Letterman's finale by broadcasting a re-run of his own late night show on May 20.
Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said he has been inspired by
Letterman, and he told The New York Times, “I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show. Plus, I’ll probably be crying all day, which makes it hard to work.”
Kimmel will have four new shows during that sweeps week, a particularly competitive time of year, The Times said.
While Kimmel and others in the talk show industry may give a nod to Letterman as someone they respect and admire,
Letterman told Rolling Stone in a soon-to-be-released interview that the ability of Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon to compete on social media, particularly with viral videos, is part of what drove him to leave.
"I hear about things going viral and I think, 'How do you do that?'" Letterman told RS. "I think I'm the blockage in the plumbing."
Fallon and Kimmel both do have a strong handle on appealing to audiences through social media, and although Letterman’s Top 10 List is still popular, it’s clear the show is lagging.
"If you look around at the other people doing it and look at me, it's almost like a pair of shoes you haven't worn in a hundred years," Letterman told RS. "'Gee, I think we can probably get rid of these.' I still enjoy what I'm doing, but I think what I'm doing is not what you want at 11:30 anymore."
Kimmel has tweeted out his love and admiration for Letterman before in the past, like in this message from 2014:
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