Jimmy Kimmel will be first guest co-host with Kelly Ripa on ‘Live’
LOS ANGELES — Jimmy Kimmel will be the first guest co-host to join Kelly Ripa on “Live” following Michael Strahan’s departure, the show announced Tuesday on Twitter.
Kimmel will join Ripa for the May 16 episode. The late-night host, whose “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is based in Los Angeles, will be in New York next week for his annual appearance at ABC’s upfront presentation, set to take place the following night at 4 p.m.
Monday, May 16th, @jimmykimmel will be Kelly's first guest co-host! pic.twitter.com/yZtNhstsB0
— LIVEKellyandMichael (@KellyandMichael) May 3, 2016
The comic will be the first in a series of guests who will join Ripa as the show enters a search period for a new permanent co-host. ABC announced last month that Strahan would depart “Live,” the No. 2 rated syndicated show in daytime, for a full-time role with the network’s morning-news program, “Good Morning America.”
ABC executives admitted to mishandling the announcement of Strahan’s departure from “Live” after longtime co-host Kelly Ripa chose not to appear on the show for several days after. ABC, which produces and distributes “Live,” plans to search for a new guest co-host through a series of on-air auditions, repeating a process that led to Strahan’s hire in 2012.
Strahan’s last episode of “Live” will be May 13.
