Jimmy Kimmel Was 'Intent' on Retiring Before Strike, Affleck and Damon Offered to Pay Staff

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Jimmy Kimmel says that not working due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes helped him realize that he does want to keep working.

The longest-running host in late-night almost called it quits before the Hollywood strikes did it for him. Jimmy Kimmel revealed on the premiere episode of Strike Force Five that he was "very intent on retiring" right as the strikes started.

The writers strike kicked off in May with the actors following suit two months later. As it turns out, having no choice but to stop working changed his mind about not working.

"I was very intent on retiring right around the time when the strike started," he said on the new podcast. "And now I realize like 'Oh yeah, it's kind of nice to work.' When you are working you think about not working."

Strike Force Five is a new podcast that launched on Spotify Wednesday. It features late-night hosts Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver and is expected to run for at least 12 episodes.

Kimmel said that he first told Meyers about his plans to retire privately, with Meyers joking that he's the "Tom Brady of late night," always talking about retiring. Once it got around to his friendly late-night rivals, they didn't think he was serious about it, either. Kimmel has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live since January 2003.

Fallon took over The Tonight Show in February 2014 at the same time Seth Meyers stepped into Late Night. Two months later, in April 2014, John Oliver launched Last Week Tonight. Colbert kicked off his Late Show in September 2015.

"I was serious. I was very serious," Kimmel told his fellow hosts. "I enjoy getting summers off ... but I like getting the summer off better when I’m getting paid to get the summer off."

Kimmel started taking summers off as part of a three-year deal he signed in 2019. He re-upped an additional three-year deal just last year, meaning retirement would still likely have been two years away strike or no strike.

As for pay, that's one of the biggest parts of why the late-night hosts kicked off Strike Force Five. All proceeds from the podcast will go to paying their staffers who've been out of work since the shows went dark on May 2 in solidarity with the WGA strike.

While the hosts have taken it upon themselves to help out their teams, Kimmel revealed that he had some superstar offers to help him with that. Apparently, Ben Affleck and his show "rival" Matt Damon offered to pay a full week's salary for his staff.

Explaining that he "felt that was not their responsibility," Kimmel said he turned down their offer. Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile, a sponsor of the podcast, also offered to help the staffers by offering them free service for a year.

You can check out the full first episode of Strike Force Five below.