Jimmy Kimmel Live has lined up his summertime hosts.
As is his annual tradition, the ABC late night host will take a summer hiatus, while his show continues with a rotation of guest hosts. This year’s lineup includes Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as well as Jeff Goldblum, RuPaul and Martin Short.
Short, who will have an upcoming season of Only Murders in the Building and a likely Emmy nomination to promote, is set to kick off the summer run the week of June 24. He’ll use his time in Kimmel’s chair to interview his co-stars, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez, as well as others, including Melissa McCarthy, Sienna Miller, Jelly Roll and Beck. Imagine Dragons and The Warning along with Jelly Roll and Beck will do musical performances as well.
Anthony Anderson, Kathryn Hahn, Kumail Nanjiani and Lamorne Morris are among the other guest hosts set to follow Short, though the exact dates will be revealed as the summer continues. (Anderson, Morris and Goldblum have all filled in for Kimmel during the summer before.)
The summer arrangement dates back to 2020, when Kimmel first announced that he’d be taking a hiatus after 18 seasons to “spend even more time with [his] family.” At the tail end of that summer, he noted how nice it had been to not only put his kids to bed every night but also read to them each night. “My son makes me lie next to his bed on the floor, and I fall asleep there almost every single night,” he said at the time. He also said that the period made him that much more comfortable with the idea of one day retiring, which is something that Kimmel has routinely and publicly flirted with and has yet to actually do. (For the record, his executive producer and wife, Molly McNearney, waffles as much as he does on this subject.)
In the half-decade since, Kimmel has made his summer hiatus an annual tradition, though last summer the show was ultimately dark due to the writers’ strike. Being able to carve out that time is a clear sign of the leverage that Kimmel has after more than two decades at Disney. In addition to hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live, he regularly hosts the Oscars for ABC and provides much-needed laughs at the company’s upfront. Fortunately, his desired break comes at an appealing time for a healthy enough swath of potential guest hosts, as there are Emmys to campaign for and summer blockbusters to promote.
