When Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered in 2003, Conan was midway through his run as host as Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Since then, he’s been the face (and hair) of two other late-night shows, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien from 2009 to 2010 and Conan from 2010 to last night, while Kimmel’s run on his ABC show has been uninterrupted. I don’t need to explain why Conan’s The Tonight Show lasted under 150 episodes (there are literally millions of words dedicated to the subject elsewhere), but Kimmel was more than happy to bring it up during Thursday’s monologue of his show.
“I also wanted to congratulate Conan O’Brien on 28 years of very, very funny late-night television. Conan wrapped up his show on TBS tonight. You know, before Conan, I didn’t even know bears could masturbate,” Kimmel joked. He then brought up Jay Leno.
“Anyway, here’s to Conan and Andy Richter and everybody involved with that show. We look forward to whatever you have planned next at HBO Max. And I also want to say, congratulations to Jay Leno on his new time slot at TBS.”
This isn’t the first time Kimmel has taken a shot at Leno — he did it to his face last time. While appearing on the short-lived The Jay Leno Show, Kimmel was asked about the best prank he’s ever pulled. “I think the best prank I ever pulled was I told a guy that five years from now I’m going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him and then I took it back almost instantly,” he told Leno, adding, “We have lives to lead here! You have $800 million, for God’s sake, leave our shows alone!”
You can watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue above.