A.B.C.
Jimmy Kimmel will finally host “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” the way it was meant to be — in front of a studio audience. The famous game show returns with a celebrity-only edition on Wednesday night to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This will be his third season as the host made famous by Regis Philbin, but it will be the first time that fans will be allowed back in the studio.
“I love hearing people laugh at my jokes, so I wanted to do it in a proper public way,” Kimmel says, “and the drama that comes with having a few hundred people watching the action is an important part of the show. Doing a show in front of no one is no fun.”
But that's exactly what Kimmel had to do when he first took over as host of the primetime series' revival in March 2020. The premiere was filmed without a studio audience, but managed to finish filming just hours before COVID-19 stay-at-home orders went into effect. A second cycle followed in the fall of 2020, but with the pandemic still raging, Kimmel also hosted without an audience.
Now in 2024, with a studio audience back, Kimmel can bring them together to bring even more energy to the show. And this time, there's another new twist: Celebrities will be paired up and both will sit in the hot seat. In previous episodes, contestants were allowed to bring phone buddies into the studio, but they stood at the back along the wall of the set. Kimmel now admits that it was a bit awkward.
“last time [‘lifeline’] “It just seemed to make more sense to have the assistant sit with him, rather than sitting behind him,” Kimmel points out. “Even on a show as established as 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' you sometimes figure things out along the way.”
Celebrity pairings this season include John Mulaney and Nick Kroll, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, Rosie O'Donnell and Lisa Ann Walter, John Stamos and Dave Coulier, Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, Zach Braff and Donald Faison, Lil Dicky and Gata, Kelly and Jack Osbourne, Ike Barinholtz and Alan Barinholtz, Sebastian Maniscalco and Omar J. Dorsey, Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata, Sophia Bush and Alex Edelman, Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi, Natasha Leggero and Jason Ritter, Ron Funches and Reggie Watts, and Jeff Ross and “cousin” Sal Iacono.
“We literally had a lot of laughs in some episodes,” Kimmel said. “We probably shot John Mulaney and Nick Kroll for two and a half hours, because they were funny from start to finish. Ray Romano and Brad Garrett were arguing the whole time, and it was really funny. We really tried hard to make sure the celebrities had real relationships, and we didn't just pair them up by name, and that was a big payoff, because you really get to know them when they're focused on the questions and arguing about what they should and shouldn't do. We purposely didn't appoint either of them as a substitute, because we thought it would be more fun to watch them argue, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Other standout pairings included Ike Barinholtz and his father Alan, who recently played the judge in the Amazon Freebie's “Jury Duty,” and perhaps the pair that got the crowd the most roaring: “Kenan & Kel” stars Thompson and Mitchell.
“Of all the celebrities who appeared on the show, the audience was most excited to see Kenan and Kel together,” Kimmel said. “There was a woman crying in the front row. There were a lot of Good Burger fans there.”
“Who Wants to be a Millionaire” premiered on ABC in August 1999 and was an instant hit. Soon “Millionaire” became a regular feature on ABC's programming schedule, drawing in as many as 30 million viewers and helping catapult the Alphabet Network to the number one spot.
“When this show first aired and Regis hosted it and it did phenomenal ratings, it was such a big part of our culture,” Kimmel said. “It brings back so many memories. It was really the biggest thing of 1999.”
To commemorate the 25th anniversary, the event will celebrate the show's origins and feature the show's first million-dollar winner, John Carpenter (who also appeared for the show's 10th anniversary).
Kimmel is currently on a summer break from “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” where he's been hosting guest hosts and spending time with his family. Regarding his appearance on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (taped this spring), Kimmel said hosting a game show is “like 30 times easier than hosting a late-night talk show. It's like a vacation for me. I don't really have to prepare. I have to be able to read, I have to do commercials and chat with the contestants, but I don't have to write a monologue. I don't have to prepare for celebrity guest segments. I don't have to write a script.”
“The show is so much fun because there's a lot of high drama when the stakes are high. It's nerve-wracking for everyone, especially when you're performing for a charity that means a lot to everyone, not just them. There's real drama and excitement that you don't get on a talk show. You get a lot of laughs, but you don't get the rollercoaster of emotions that you get when hosting a game show. When I tell jokes, I'm so quiet you could hear a pin drop. There's never been a better time to let a pin drop.”
