Jimmy Kimmel took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Talk Show on January 4, 2026. Following his victory, he addressed the media, recalling the difficult time the show had faced over the past few months, including a temporary suspension. He referred to the last year as a “near-death” experience while clarifying that he didn’t mean it in a literal sense but metaphorically.
Jimmy Kimmel talks about his ‘near death experience’
Kimmel recently won the best talk show award for Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the Critics’ Choice Awards and addressed his difficult past year professionally. Reflecting on the show’s difficult time over the past few months, he said to the reporters, “It was almost a near-death experience for me. Of course, not literally, but I did feel a little bit like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn watching their own funeral, when all this stuff happened.” (via PEOPLE)
The show was taken off-air in September 2025, following Kimmel’s comments over Charlie Kirk’s demise. In a conversation on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he revealed that he was at the office when he received a call from ABC. As he wanted to seek privacy, he went to the bathroom to attend the call and discovered the shocking decision. He revealed that the executives told him, “We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.” Despite Kimmel’s insistence that it wasn’t a “good idea” for temporary suspension, he lost the vote, and the show was ultimately taken off-air for 6 days.
During his award acceptance speech, he extended his thanks to everyone involved in the show’s making and those who have supported it for years. He said, “Thank you to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of you who are in this room, who supported us, who really stepped forward for us, and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or this country.” He also further sarcastically thanked President Donald Trump.
