Summary
- Late night talk show hosts unite in new podcast series Strike Force Five to discuss ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood.
- Proceeds from the podcast will go to staff members of the shows who are currently out of work.
- The first episode reveals interesting tidbits, such as Kimmel considering retirement and Kimmel turning down an offer from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to pay his staff’s salaries during the strike.
A group of late night talk show hosts consisting of Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon have united in a new podcast series titled Strike Force Five. As you might have guessed based off the title, the subject of the podcast will be the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that have shut down a large part of Hollywood and the entertainment world and don’t seem to be coming to any sort of resolution anytime soon.
The genesis for this new podcast occurred back in May, when the five hosts decided to get together every week and talk about the strikes. Like the cast of Critical Role playing Dungeons and Dragons, they then decided to share their hilarious and interesting antics with the whole world. Doing so with the help of Mint Mobile and Diageo, who are sponsoring Strike Force Five. All the show’s proceeds will go to the staff members of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Late Night With Seth Meyers, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon who are currently out of work.
The first episode of the podcast series debuted on August 30th. Among the revelations to come out of the very first episode is Colbert’s reaction to people asking if he’s “enjoying the vacation” from having to do his show.
“I usually say, ‘This is like a vacation in the same way a colonoscopy is like a nap.’” Another interesting thing is how Kimmel was seriously considering retiring before the strikes happened.
RELATED: Hollywood Strike: What Happened the Last Time the Writers and Actors Went on Strike Together?
Jimmy Kimmel Talks Retirement & Other Tidbits
ABC
Despite Kimmel’s three-year renewal deal with ABC, the late night host “was very intent on retiring right around the time when the strike started. And now, I realize, Oh yeah, it’s kind of nice to work.”
If you find that unbelievable, you’re not the only one, because Seth Meyers responded with “Kimmel, c’mon, you are the Tom Brady of late night… you have feigned retirement.” Kimmel insists he was being serious, however.
Here are some other interesting tidbits to come out of the first podcast episode, via Variety, including Jimmy Kimmel revealing that “Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had reached out with an offer to each pay one week of his staff’s salaries during the strike,” something which Kimmel turned down saying, “I felt that that was not their responsibility.”
The subject then moved on to mothers, with Stephen Colbert revealing that “his mother once dated Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle,” while Jimmy Fallon revealed that his mother once “spent one week as a prospective nun at a convent.”
Moving on to the guests they’ve hosted over their careers as late night talk show hosts, Colbert declared that his favorite of all-time is Academy Award winner and acting icon Robert De Niro, with the host saying, “We just sat there in silence for a minute… and the audience loved it.'”
You can listen to it now on Spotify and all the other major platforms for podcasts. It’s set to run a minimum of 12 episodes, but it expected to continue as long as the strikes last.
You can view the original article HERE.
