Watch: Jimmy Kimmel celebrates 20th anniversary with original guests Snoop Dogg, George Clooney, Coldplay - UPI.com
Advertisement

Jimmy Kimmel celebrates 20th anniversary with Snoop Dogg, George Clooney, Coldplay

TV personality Jimmy Kimmel celebrates 20 years of his talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," with original guests Snoop Dogg, George Clooney and Coldplay. Photo courtesy of ABC/Randy Holmes
1 of 5 | TV personality Jimmy Kimmel celebrates 20 years of his talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," with original guests Snoop Dogg, George Clooney and Coldplay. Photo courtesy of ABC/Randy Holmes

Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Time flies when you're having fun. That's the adage that applies to Jimmy Kimmel Live's 20th-anniversary celebration. On Thursday night the comedian turned talk show host celebrated two decades on the air by hosting the same guests that he did on his first show - personality/rapper/actor Snoop Dogg, actor George Clooney and musical guest Coldplay.

Kimmel's first show aired on Jan. 26, 2003, right after the Super Bowl. In his monologue, Kimmel joked that the two executives who hired him to do the show should have gotten fired. Actually, he said, two of them did. Kimmel went on to thank his staff, his wife, and his mother -- who made cookies with his face on them for the anniversary show.

Advertisement

And he thanked his longtime sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, who he discovered working as a security guard in the studio parking lot in 2004.

Snoop's talent rider -- his food, drink, and dressing room requirements -- has expanded since his first appearance on the show. He asked for wings and fruit punch the first time, but 20 years later that evolved into specific brands of chips, including honey barbecue Fritos -- marked very important -- and various kinds of water.

"Every opportunity to be on a television show is like a shopping spree," Snoop told Kimmel. "I get a chance to get some free groceries."

As he did on the first show, Snoop stayed to co-host and he and Kimmel interviewed George Clooney, who arrived with drinks just like he did on his first appearance. The men shared a toast along with Guillermo. Clooney admits he doesn't remember a lot of the first show, because he was so drunk, as was an audience member, who threw up.

Though Kimmel says he thought they had a good time, Clooney didn't return to Kimmel for another 11 years.

Advertisement

"I had a career to pursue," Clooney said.

One of Clooney's most memorable skits on Jimmy Kimmel Live over the years was with House actor Hugh Laurie when the TV doctors had to "examine" Kimmel. Turns out that Kimmel wasn't wearing any underwear, which the two actors didn't know about beforehand.

"Hugh Laurie has never been back," Kimmel said. "I ran into him at a restaurant once and I walked up to him and I swear, he's still traumatized by it," Kimmel said.

Celebrities who paid tribute to Jimmy via video included Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Bryan Cranston, Shaquille O'Neal, Huey Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Tracy Morgan, Margot Robbie, Carol Burnett, Oprah, Tom Hanks, Kerry Washington, Michael Keaton, Sean Penn, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ben Affleck, Michelle Obama and Matt Damon -- the butt of many of Kimmel's jokes over the years via their long-running "feud."

Advertisement

As they did twenty years before, Coldplay closed the show with their hit song "Clocks" from the rooftop.

Latest Headlines