Jimmy Kimmel walked away with a trophy at Sunday night time’s (September 7) 77th Inventive Arts Emmy Awards and used his acceptance speech to thank the late Regis Philbin.
The late-night host received the Emmy for Excellent Host For A Recreation Present for Who Desires To Be A Millionaire, beating out Jeopardy!‘s Ken Jennings, Pop Tradition Jeopardy!‘s Colin Jost, Celeb Household Feud‘s Steve Harvey, and Press Your Luck‘s Elizabeth Banks.
After amassing the trophy, Kimmel praised Millionaire‘s authentic host, Philbin, who received a Daytime Emmy for Excellent Recreation Present Host again in 2001. Kimmel stated Philbin, who died in 2020, was “watching over all of us proper now,” per Deadline.
He spoke extra about Philbin backstage, telling the press, “Regis was the perfect at this. I don’t assume the present would nonetheless be on the air if Regis hadn’t hosted it to start out with. He was such an uncommon choose on the time. I don’t assume folks do not forget that as a result of it turned such an enormous sensation, not only a hit, however like a cultural phenomenon. So folks didn’t take into consideration how Regis was a impossible alternative.”
The Jimmy Kimmel Reside! host went on to say how Philbin was “at all times good” to him, including, “It’s thrilling to have this [award] and to know that he has this identical Emmy someplace in his household’s assortment as properly.”
Throughout his speech, Kimmel additionally thanked the present’s govt producer, Michael Davies, who was additionally the producer on Win Ben Stein’s Cash, the late Nineteen Nineties Comedy Central sport present that received Kimmel his first Emmy.
Lately, Kimmel received Emmys for Excellent Selection Particular (Reside) for his Reside in Entrance of a Studio Viewers collaborations with Norman Lear. The specials noticed recreations of a few of Lear’s basic sitcoms, together with All within the Household, The Jeffersons, Good Occasions, The Details of Life, and Diff’lease Strokes.
When requested backstage whether or not he would do one other Reside in Entrance of a Studio Viewers, Kimmel steered it wouldn’t really feel proper to do it with out Lear, who handed away in December 2023. “It might be too emotional to do it with out Norman Lear, you realize, I don’t know if my coronary heart might take it,” he shared.
Kimmel, who signed a three-year take care of ABC in 2022, was additionally requested about his future in late-night and whether or not he’s considered retirement.
“I’m not ready to reply that query,” he responded. “It’s one thing I take into consideration loads. Issues have modified loads over the previous couple of years, over the past 9 years, I suppose, and every day is a brand new journey, and I type of take them as they arrive.”
Who Desires to Be a Millionaire?, Wednesdays, 8/7c, ABC, subsequent day on Hulu