Jimmy Kimmel's Return

In this emotionally charged and wildly entertaining episode of The Ben and Skin Show, hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray unpack the much-anticipated return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night television. From heartfelt apologies to biting satire, Kimmel’s comeback monologue is dissected with humor, empathy, and a dash of banana-suit absurdity.The crew explores Kimmel’s response to recent controversy, highlighting his emotional vulnerability and his ability to “thread an impossible needle of grace, humor, empathy, and principles.” KT shares clips from the show, including Guillermo dressed as a banana and Kimmel as a monkey—setting the tone for a night that balanced levity with serious reflection.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A big thanks to everyone out there who's supporting our partners.
That's the number one way to keep us on the air.
We certainly appreciate that. What's going on in Dallas coming
up at five o'clock the Dallas Observer Best of Awards.
We'll get back to the Cowboys coming up at five thirty.
John Mashoda did a poll how Cowboys fans really feel
about the Micah trade. I feel like that's an absolute

(00:23):
disaster headed their way, Like Mike's gonna kill Dak, Right,
that would be the ultimate right if Dak rest of
his season was lost because of injury because Mike Hah
destroyed him like Korea was sixty MILLI year for multiple years.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Michah did say that it would be heartbreaking to sack Dak.
So who do you say that Micah thinks higher of
Dak than Dak thinks of Micah? Would be my guess.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
All Right, the Today Games coming up momentarily, that's the
only segment of the day that won't be podcasted. You
must listen live. That's about ten minutes away. But right
now it's time for this.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Are you excited?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Featuring veteran news anchor Katie fun tweets. Last night, about
ten thirty seven Central time, Jimmy Kimmel made his return,
and again I said the yesterday do you want to
say again, we all realize that many of you do
not care about Jimmy Kimmel. But this is a topic
that everyone's talking about it. So Joe Rogan talking about it,

(01:25):
huge news, It's a story everywhere. The President was kind
of Live truth social posting while this is going on
as well, like it's a big story. So Kimmel makes
his return. It felt like a big moment. And they
opened up the show with a big montage of all
the news stations talking about how Jimmy Kimmel's monologue is
the most anticipated monologue in history, and then it cuts
to Gueramo and Jimmy Kimmel backstage and one of my

(01:48):
favorite bits of all time. Geramo is dressed as a
banana and Jimmy Kimmel's dressed as a monkey, and they're like, oh,
I guess we better change. This is a pretty serious deal,
very funny that part. So here he is, I got
a few clips. Here's from the beginning.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
I've been hearing a lot about what I need to
say and do tonight, And the truth is, I don't
think what I have to say is going to make
much of a difference. If you like me, you like me.
If you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about
changing anyone's mind, but I do want to make something
clear because it's important to me as a human and
that is you understand that it was never my intention
to make light of the murder of a young man.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I don't think there's anything funny about it.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
I posted a message on Instagram and the daves killed,
sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and
I meant it.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I still do.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group
for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply
disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point
I was trying to make. But I understand that to
some that felt either ill timed or unclear, or maybe both.
And for those who think I did point a finger,
I get why you're upset. If the situation was reversed,

(02:59):
there's a good chance I'd have felt the same way.
I don't think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone.
This was a sick person who believed violence was a
solution and it isn't.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Ever. I thought that was handled beautifully and I was
completely wrong in how he handled everything. I actually thought
he was going to be a little more abrasive and
kind of because he was agitated by what happened last week.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
He's a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve, though,
he always has, and it's like, if you're going through
something that you're that passionate about, that's that traumatic, it's
hard to talk about it without being emotional. And see
he's always been like that though, and if you like
him or don't like him or whatever, he's been pretty
consistent with that part of his personality.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
I thought he handled it perfectly. I saw a post
that guy said, I thought he did an incredible job
of threading an impossible needle of grace, humor, empathy, and principles,
and I think that's incredibly well put. It was, and
dude was it was heartfelt off the top. Then he
did lean in, you know, when they came back from

(04:02):
commercial break, he went ham, which was great to see you.
It's kind of what he's fighting for, right.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, absolutely, I thought this is good to.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Over the weekend a very beautiful moment. I don't know
if you saw this on Sunday, Erica Kirk forgave the
man who shot her husband. She forgave him. That is
an example we should follow. Yeah, you believe in the
teachings of Jesus as I do. There it was that's it,

(04:32):
a selfless act of grace forgiveness from a grieving widow.
It touched me deeply.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
I'm really happy that he got the opportunity to say
that stuff publicly, right. I'm sure that was incredibly important
for him and why he wanted to be one of
the main reasons he wanted to be back on the air.
But as I was also really happy that they did
humor and they did. You know, we've talked about this
a million times on the show. Ben and I grew

(05:01):
up in a different era where I watched comedians destroy
politicians and it was amazing, And I grew up really
enjoying that and thinking that that was a part of what,
you know, made this country great. Like I always admired
that and loved that, and a lot of my heroes
said what they thought, and I just don't think. I
don't think anybody that loves this country wants to get

(05:25):
into a thing where the government can tell you what
you can and can't say.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's it's a really, it's.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
What happens in Russia and China and all those places
that we don't want to be.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, and this is where he posted a thing the
other day. Two is of Norman lear, who's a because
they had become friends and they were recreating some reboots
on ABC and things like that. Oh yeah, but Norman
lera apparently who created a bunch of TV shows by seventies,
was put on Richard Nixon's enemies list. I was like,
oh Jesus, okay, we had an enemy's list. That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Did he say? Is he the one who did? Like
the line? Kimmel said first was before I was interrupted. Yeah,
that was a callback to another TV game. It was
a similar situation. Yeah, he was a guy that had
been suspended for some re It was before Johnny Carson.
I don't know, Oh was it.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Not?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Was it Steve Allen that had that show before that?

Speaker 1 (06:16):
I don't know. I don't know. I'll look it up
during the commercial break, But yeah, I thought that was
an homage to that line that cools. The day he
came back.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
All right on, I didn't know that this was just
fifteen seconds. I play this and this will be last one.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
But I don't want to make this about me because
and I know this is what people say when they
make things about them, but I really don't this show.
This show is not important. What is important is that
we get to live in a country that allows us
to have a show like this.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, he can do this the easy way, or he
can do it.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
I love that they went after Brendan Carr. Yeah, yeah,
I loved it. Yeah, the nero, Yeah, fantastic stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
All right, there you have it, the return of Jimmy
Kimmel coming up next, and just three minutes it's the
Today Game. Then what's going on in Dallas? The Dallas
Observers Awards are out. We'll get into all that coming
your way next