Jimmy Kimmel Live on September 12 had Kaley Cuoco; one of the stars on The Big Bang Theory, Phil Rothstein; who has an international “eating” program on Netflix and One Republic who performed a song from their latest album.
Kimmel has a pretty good track record with guests that please the audience and interact with him as host. Sometimes however there can be a great rapport between Jimmy and his guest and the studio audience are just not that interested.
In this episode, the best bits of the show were the monologue, the pre-recorded My Cousin Sal’s house prank on a Thai delivery man and the motorized baggage race between Jimmy and Cuoco.
The “Sully” spoof, where it was all about the geese, went over like a proverbial lead balloon. This one was not a crowd pleaser although it was amusing enough. Perhaps they were still upset at drawing Cuoco and Rothstein.
There was time for a “Drunk Hilary Clinton” and “Drunk Rudy Giuliani.” (The latter “drunk” bit made Rudy look a bit loony as his behavior was odd, even taking away the slo-mo.)
There was a quick “feed” visit from Olympic medalist winner Laurie Hernandez. The 16 year old is Jimmy’s favorite to win “Dancing With the Stars” and Kimmel told her of his prediction.
The teen promised to do her best and told of meeting Vanilla Ice. Hernandez is, beyond a shadow of doubt, adorable. The studio audience reacted better to the athlete than they did to either Cuoco or Rothstein.
Cousin Sal was up next with “Home Delivery’s” where he pranked the delivery man who dealt with a troublesome “grandpa.” After this segment, Kimmel mentioned, almost in passing, his hosting of the Emmys.
Cuoco was the first guest on the show and she asked about the delivery guy trapped in Sal’s house. Cuoco talked of jumping horses competitively and giving her horse a beer when they win.
The audience did not really warm to the actress. It may well be that Cuoco feels a bit like a Jennifer Aniston “knock-off.” Although it could come down to Kaley not being as entertaining as either Aniston or Cuoco’s character on The Big Bang Theory.
Next up was the motorized baggage race between Kimmel and Cuoco. Rather interestingly, Kaley cheats and pulls a barefoot win. See the video below:
Producer Phil Rothstein was the next guest up. He plugged his new food program “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having” which is currently streaming on Netflix.
Phil told of what prompted the idea of the new show. Rothstein appears to be a fascinating man. Unfortunately this was another case of lukewarm audience reception.
Part of the the problem could be that Rothstein’s expression is all wide open eyes and teeth. Watching the producer as he talked with Jimmy, one expected his eyes to pop right out of his head.
Another issue could be the subject matter, American’s traveling outside the US. The audience applauded the idea of it but there may have been a few more “Honey Boo Boo” fans than world travel fans.
One Republic performed to an appreciative audience to close the show. As usual there was no time for Matt Damon.
Jimmy Kimmel Live airs Monday through Friday on ABC.
Guests:
Kelly Cuoco and Phil Rothstein
Musical Guest:
Mikes Film Talk 