Jimmy Kimmel predicts late night talk shows may no longer be 'late'

Jimmy Kimmel is sharing his honest thoughts about what the future holds for late night talk shows.

During a recent chat at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host showed positive hopes, saying, “There will always be late-night talk shows."

However, he noted the shows "may not happen late at night," but will follow the same format.

"I think there are some shows that are called late-night talk shows that aren't late-night talk shows that still have the same format," Kimmel said.

He went on to say, "And maybe we need a different term for them, but it seems to me it's one of the cheapest forms of broadcasting, and it would be very surprising to me if it, it went away entirely."

Jimmy believes that late-night talk shows may not vanish entirely, but might evolve into a different format, run by people from different backgrounds and niches.

"Maybe it won't be as big, maybe there won't be a big band welcoming the host of the stage, maybe there won't be 15 writers, but I think there will be some version of late-night talk show, he noted

"And in a way, maybe it'll be better because maybe there will be more opportunities for more people of various backgrounds and ages and niche programming that I think could be a lot of fun to watch," Jimmy added.