Jimmy Kimmel reflects on perseverance after a challenging year in his career.
Almost a month later Jimmy Kimmel live! renewed for another year, the longtime host shared what he learned most in 2025 while attending the 2026 Critics Choice Awards on January 4.
“I learned a lot of lessons,” Kimmel said. MY! News. “I guess ‘hold your ground.’ That’s the most important lesson I learned last year.”
When Carp joked that he had developed both figurative and literal muscles, the comedian responded, “Well, I didn’t say that, but I have guns.”
Kimmel, 58, won Best Talk Show at the ceremony, ending a turbulent period. Last fall, Jimmy Kimmel Live! He was briefly suspended after a backlash to comments made during a monologue.
The show returned to the air less than a week later and was later renewed.
Two months after that controversy, Kimmel faced a personal loss when his childhood best friend and bandleader Cleto Escobedo III died at age 59. Kimmel honored him on Instagram, writing that they had “been inseparable since he was 9 years old.”
“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my former bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” he wrote. “To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.”
As 2026 begins, Kimmel says he’s keeping expectations simple. Recalling a family conversation started by his wife, Molly McNearney, he said, “I don’t have any intentions this year. I’m just moving on, that’s all.”
