NEW YORK \u2014 When I say \u2018Jimmy,\u2019 you say \u2018Kimmel!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Flavor Flav, the hip-hop musician and reality TV star, was leading the crowd in a call-and-response from the stage of the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, where \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d recorded the first of five shows Monday that will air through Friday.<\/p>\n
This is the seventh year that \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d has come to New York for \u201cBrooklyn Week,\u201d but the first time Kimmel has taken the stage in his hometown since his suspension and reinstatement at ABC threw him into the eye of a political hurricane over censorship, government intervention and free speech.<\/p>\n
Other guests during \u201cBrooklyn Week\u201d will include \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d star Emily Blunt; Kumail Nanjiani, who was recently added to the cast of the Broadway show \u201cOh, Mary!\u201d; Bruce Springsteen; Tom Hanks and \u2014 most significantly in this political late-night moment \u2014 TV host Stephen Colbert.<\/p>\n
Hours before showtime, fans patiently stood in lines that nearly circled the city block. At a corner near the entrance, two people held a banner that read \u201cKimmel stays! Trump must go!\u201d beside images of President Donald Trump and the late-night host. They were part of a group called Refuse Fascism that was handing out fliers to fans as they waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made the sign this morning,\u201d said Rafael Kadaris, an organizer for Refuse Fascism. \u201cBut we were also out in front of ABC right after he was fired, so I think we played one small part in getting him back on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon and Karen Hambright, a pair of fraternal twins near the front of the line who were sporting matching denim dresses, Nike shoes and platinum bobs, also said they had done their part.<\/p>\n
\u201cI deleted Disney, deleted Hulu,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cThey said, \u2018What if it\u2019s $1.99 a month?\u2019 I said, \u2018Keep your $1.99.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The sisters, who grew up in Brooklyn (and literally finish each other\u2019s sentences), had gotten their tickets for the show before the events that led to Kimmel\u2019s suspension. They were devastated when they thought the night\u2019s show might be canceled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real heartbreak,\u201d Sharon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we\u2019ve loved him for over 20 years,\u201d Karen said. \u201cWe love his sincerity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s sexy as hell,\u201d Sharon said.<\/p>\n
Karen and Sharon weren\u2019t the only fans in matching outfits. Suzy Talas and her friend Alexandria Liriano bought T-shirts from Amazon for the occasion. Talas\u2019s read, \u201cI \u2764\ufe0fJimmy.\u201d Liriano\u2019s read \u201cI \u2764\ufe0f Guillermo,\u201d referring to Guillermo Rodriguez, a parking attendant turned on-screen sidekick who has been appearing on the show since 2003.<\/p>\n
Their shirts caught the eye of Kevin Kimmel, Jimmy\u2019s son, who works on the show\u2019s social media team. He gave the women oversize pins that read \u201cFan of the day\u201d and took a picture for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to celebrate freedom of speech,\u201d Liriano said. \u201cAnd we can say whatever the hell we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I love him because he loves people,\u201d Talas said. \u201cHe loves his crowd, and he loves Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their shirts were a perfect complement to the outfit worn by Rodriguez, who walked onstage in a hat, shirt, pants, tote bag and cape, all covered in the \u201cI \u2764\ufe0f NY\u201d logo. The crowd loved him right back.<\/p>\n
But the biggest cheer of the night came when Kimmel himself entered. As he walked downstage, he was met with more than 20 seconds of uninterrupted cheering. It was so loud that one woman held her hands over her ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you know, over the last 10 days or so, we\u2019ve been through quite an ordeal,\u201d Kimmel said during his opening monologue. \u201cAnd by \u2018we,\u2019 I mean Mets fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lest you forget where you were, the set was a pastiche of Coney Island shops and roller coasters, and the word \u201cBrooklyn\u201d was emblazoned across Kimmel\u2019s desk in the style of a tiled mosaic on the wall of a subway station.<\/p>\n
There were two \u201cApplause\u201d lights that blinked throughout the show, but they didn\u2019t seem necessary. The crowd was on Kimmel\u2019s side, especially when he made a reference to New York (which he wisely did many times).<\/p>\n
The crowd was even more receptive to Kimmel\u2019s political material, laughing when he called JD Vance \u201cVice President Maybelline,\u201d booing when he mentioned Trump and cheering when he said, \u201cNo one tells somebody from Brooklyn to shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimmel\u2019s newfound political import gave an extra charge to the night\u2019s proceedings. Being in a TV audience is usually pretty fun, but it rarely has the crackle of urgency that seemed to pulse through the audience before and during the show.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to silence Kimmel that made a 22-year-old show hosted by a 57-year-old man feel relevant, even crucial. There was so much energy in the theater that even the terminally anodyne Ryan Reynolds seemed somehow edgier. Whether that energy could also send a jolt to ratings remained an open question.<\/p>\n
Kimmel\u2019s second guest was Josh Johnson, a 35-year-old YouTube phenom who was recently named a host on \u201cThe Daily Show.\u201d Kimmel praised Johnson for the volume of stand-up material he uploads to the internet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re doing a great job,\u201d Kimmel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s very kind,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou have the president watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The night ended with a ferocious but brief performance by Public Enemy. It\u2019s hard to imagine a better way to end the show than with these New York legends, who spent decades making overtly political hip-hop.<\/p>\n
Flavor Flav kicked off the set by saying, \u201cHey yo, Jimmy Kimmel, we are Public Enemy, and I just want you to know that Public Enemy\u2019s always got your back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, the crowd went nuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 When I say \u2018Jimmy,\u2019 you say \u2018Kimmel!\u2019\u201d Flavor Flav, the hip-hop musician and reality TV…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":279812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[144683,144681,1121,185,171,63908,11171,144682,144680,5005,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-279811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alexandria-liriano","9":"tag-bam-howard-gilman-opera-house","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-guillermo","14":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","15":"tag-karen-hambright","16":"tag-kevin-kimmel","17":"tag-president-donald-trump","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115322361362421639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}