Jimmy Kimmel to park politics during Las Vegas event
Jimmy Kimmel isn’t going to go there, when he’s here, next weekend. The late-night TV star is more sentimental than political in his return to Las Vegas next weekend.
“I won’t even mention politics at the event,” Kimmel said during a phone chat, ahead of the 28th annual Power of Love Gala, set for Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden. “Regardless of what color hat people are wearing, everyone there is donating to a great cause. I appreciate that. I’m not going to make them uncomfortable.”
Kimmel’s political views are well-known. President Donald Trump has been, and remains, a favorite subject of evisceration in his “Jimmy Kimmel Live” monologues.
But we agree there is a time and place for political and social commentary. For Kimmel, being honored at your hometown’s biggest annual charity gala is not the time. The event is the leading fundraiser for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health at Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas (pricing and support intel at keepmemoryalive.org).
Kimmel has toured the Ruvo Center, and has also had family members treated at the facility. “It’s such a great place, an important place, and something Las Vegas can be proud to have in their town.”
Some highlights from my recent phone chat with the Kenny Guinn Middle School and Clark High grad, and UNLV alum:
A big dang deal: “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It is a big deal,” Kimmel says. “It almost feels like I’m coming to my own funeral. I mean that in a good way. I mean that in a Mark Twain kind of way.”
He will feel mahvelous: Billy Crystal among those honoring Kimmel, joined by an array of stars including Earth Wind & Fire, Anthony Anderson (“Black-Ish”), “The Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross Kristen Bell (“The Good Place,” “Nobody Wants This”). Kimmel reminisces, “The idea that Billy Crystal would fly to Vegas to be part of something honoring me is something that I never imagined might happen when I was in the back of my parents’ Chevy Impala station wagon, listening to ‘You Look Marvelous’ whenever it came on the radio.”
The video is worth an online search, if only to revsit Crystal’s “Fernando’s Hideaway”character — based on the late Fernando Lamas — and unearth Crystal’s timeless Sammy Davis Jr. portrayal.
“The Roastmaster” has free reign: A couple of weeks ago I ran into Ross at Siegel’s Bagelmania the day Joey Chestnut won the World Bagel Eating Contest (weird anywhere, except Las Vegas). He said he was already eager to roast Kimmel. The honoree is ready to be skewed. “I would never tell Jeff what to do, and I’m open to anything. I understand that when you ask someone like Jeff to roast you, you are going to get roasted, and you must be prepared for that,” Kimmel says. “I give him no guard rails, and it’ll be proper people see[ing] me get a little roasting.”
He’s musing about post-“Live” future: Kimmel told People in February 2024 that he is under contract at ABC for “a little more than two years,” without confirming if he’ll extend. Currently he says, “I’ve stopped talking about my contract because there’s no point to it,” he says. “I do have a couple of fun and exciting projects I’m working on in Las Vegas that I’m not ready to talk about. Whenever I think about doing something, it’s almost always the first place I think about doing it.”
Laughs, and also music: “It’s going to be a fun night, a funny night and a meaningful night,” Kimmel says. “I love Earth Wind & Fire, so I’m really excited to see them. My band, Cleto and the Cletones, are coming out, we’ll have some surprises that even I don’t know about.”
Sadly, one figure cannot make it: “I only wish Cook E. Jarr could have been a part of it,” Kimmel says, of the Las Vegas lounge legend who died last month at age 83. “That would have really completed it for me.”
A time to serve
The Power of Love live-auction items are reliably noteworthy, in a “Who can afford to pay $50K for dinner with Gronk?” sort of way. Among this year’s live-auction items is tennis (or pickleball) lessons from Stefanie Graf and Andre Agassi. This is a one-hour lesson. Opening bid is $150K. These two are exceptionally good at the pickleball (a surprise to nobody), which we learned when watching them in action a few months ago at the Plaza. Their acumen will be on full display at Michelob Ultra Arena at 1 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 16). Which leads us to …
PickleBall Slam 3
The Graf-Agassi team is pitted against Andy Roddick and Eugenie Bouchard in Pickleball Slam 3: Duel – duel, I tell you! — In the Desert. The competition for the $1 million prize starts at 1 p.m. at Michelob Ultra Arena. We’re wagering on the Vegas tandem.
Tease this …
Beyoncé posted a shot of herself on IG Friday, wearing a negligee-fashioned stage outfit that seems spun of gold. “Love is the only gold,” she writes. The @vegas IG account, the official VisitVegas.com platform, posted, “I love you,” and a heart.
We distill that this might be a forecast of at least one date at Allegiant Stadium on her upcoming “Cowboy Carter Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour. She played Allegiant twice in ’23 …
Cool Hang Alert
El Cortez has spruced up its act, and an act we like a lot, Michael Nugent, is at the hotel-casino’s lounge at 5 p.m. Wednesdays. He’s superior. Get there. And, no cover.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
What: 28th annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love Gala.
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena.
When: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.
Honorees: Jimmy Kimmel; Bob and Lovee Arum, with Community Award.
Information: Keepmemoryalive.org.
Scheduled to appear:
—Earth Wind & Fire: Nine-time GRAMMY® Award-winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and Kennedy Center Honorees, with eight number one hits and more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, making them one of the best-selling artists of all time.
— Billy Crystal, actor and comedian with six Emmys, a Tony Award, three Grammy and three Golden Globes nominations; nine-time Oscars host, three-time Grammy host, and recipient of the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and a Kennedy Center Honor.
— Anthony Anderson, Emmy-nominated actor, comedian and producer known for his starring role in "Black-ish," star of the upcoming Amazon film "G20" and multiple NAACP Image Award recipient.
— Jason Bateman, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor, director and producer known for his performances in "Ozark," "Arrested Development" and "Horrible Bosses," and cohost of the "Smartless" podcast.
— Jeff Ross, comedian dubbed the "The Roastmaster General," and the executive producer and performer on Netflix's highest-rated live special, "The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady," currently touring with his one-man show, "Take A Banana for the Ride."
— Dax Shepard, actor, comedian and filmmaker known for roles in "Parenthood" and "Without a Paddle," and host of the "Armchair Expert" podcast.
— Kristen Bell, Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Television Award-nominated actor for her roles in "The Good Place" and "Nobody Wants This," star of comedies including "Bad Moms" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and the voice of Anna in Disney's "Frozen."
— Judge Judy (Judy Sheindlin), Presiding Judge on Prime Video's Emmy-Award winning "Judy Justice" and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy.
— Dinner program: Headed up by Wolfgang Puck, a Day One supporter of the Ruvo Center; and Thomas Keller of French Laundry. The event draws about 1,500 supporters, always with a dazzling live- and silent-auction lineup.
