Jimmy Kimmel called Melania Trump an "expectant widow" two days before a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Now the man who played tennis with Johnny Carson every week for twenty years just reminded America what a late-night host is actually supposed to be.
The contrast is going to make Kimmel's audience very uncomfortable.
What Johnny Carson Refused to Do That Jimmy Kimmel Does Every Night
Howard Smith knew Johnny Carson the way most people never get to know anyone famous – weekly tennis, Aspen vacations, two decades of private friendship.
Carson had one rule that never moved.
"He felt that his job was to entertain people," Smith told Fox News Digital. "That's why he never got into talking about politics at all."
Carson told 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace the same thing in 1979.
"That's not what I'm there for," Carson said. "Why do they think that just because you have a Tonight Show, that you must deal in serious issues? That's a danger."
Not a preference. A danger.
In 1981, John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton – the same hotel where the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting happened. Carson agreed to delay the Oscars by 24 hours out of respect.
"Because of the incredible events of yesterday, that old adage, 'the show must go on,' seemed relatively unimportant," he told the audience.
Carson hosted Reagan on The Tonight Show multiple times and put the office of the presidency above every personal view he held.
"I had different opinions than he did on a lot of stuff," Smith recalled.
Republican, Democrat, farmer, factory worker – millions of Americans tuned in every night because they trusted Carson not to make the end of their day about politics.
He never broke that trust. Not once in 30 years.
Why Jimmy Kimmel Getting Fired Would Not Save Late Night TV
Smith delivered the bluntest autopsy of modern late night you'll hear.
"The difference nowadays is that these people are not, you know, that funny," he said. "So, they're coming up with other things and the politician stuff."
The numbers are the eulogy.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – canceled. CBS was losing roughly $40 million a year and decided no replacement host was worth the trouble. Colbert co-hosted fundraisers for Joe Biden and accused his own network of making a "big fat bribe" to Trump to stay on the air.
The Tonight Show – the crown jewel Carson handed to America – now draws 1.33 million viewers per night. Carson routinely drew eight to nine million in an era when three networks split the entire country and there was nowhere else to go.
The Media Research Center tracked jokes from six late-night programs across 2025 and found 92% targeted conservatives. Kimmel aimed 97% of his 3,046 jokes at Republicans.
That's not a comedy show. That's a Democrat Party operation with a desk and a band.
Carson saw the drift coming before he retired. He wanted Letterman as his successor but had real concerns about Letterman's move toward political humor. Jay Leno – who succeeded Carson and idolized him – held the same view.
"People don't want to hear about politics," Smith recalled Leno saying. "They just want to enjoy the show, laugh a lot."
Carson was right about Letterman. He was right about all of them.
The Real Reason ABC Has Not Fired Jimmy Kimmel
Carson didn't just run a television program. He ran the American living room at the end of every day for 30 years. Farmers in Nebraska and steelworkers in Pittsburgh and retirees in Florida all watched the same man make them laugh about the same things. That was the job. Make Americans feel like Americans together.
Kimmel looked at that and decided scoring points for his team mattered more.
The result: a September suspension after he implied a MAGA supporter killed Charlie Kirk. Affiliate revolts that forced ABC's hand. The First Lady of the United States publicly called for his firing. The President demanded his termination on Truth Social. The FCC chair warning ABC there will be "additional work for the FCC ahead."
That's what Kimmel traded the American living room for.
Carson once declined a personal request to appear at a fundraiser for President George H.W. Bush – a president he liked.
"They just want me there because they can get more money if I'm there, and I'm not going to participate in that," Smith recalled him saying.
Carson wouldn't appear at a fundraiser for a president he personally liked because he refused to make the show about politics. Kimmel hosts the fundraisers himself.
ABC keeps Kimmel on the air because Disney needs a political weapon aimed at the White House more than it needs a comedy show. The moment Kimmel stops being useful to that agenda, he's gone – not because Trump demanded it, but because Disney will have no reason left to absorb the losses.
Johnny Carson brought America together to end the day with a laugh. He did it for 30 years and millions of Americans showed up every night to let him.
Jimmy Kimmel didn't just fail to do that. He made sure no one who comes after him can do it either.
Sources:
- Madison Colombo, "Johnny Carson's Friend Says Late-Night King Wisely Avoided Partisanship as Kimmel Controversy Grows," Fox News, May 2, 2026.
- "Flashback: Johnny Carson Warned Against Danger of Late-Night Shows Preaching on 'Serious Issues,'" Fox News, September 19, 2025.
- "Kimmel Calls Melania Trump an 'Expectant Widow' Before White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting," Fox News Digital, April 28, 2026.
- "Here Are Final Late Night Ratings for Q1 2026," LateNighter, April 2026.
- "Late-Night TV Got More Liberal in 2025, Per Study," Deadline, January 6, 2026.
- Christian Toto, "2025: The Year Late-Night TV Collapsed," HollywoodInToto, December 1, 2025.