Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon switch talk shows in April Fool's prank, Latest TV News - The New Paper
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Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon switch talk shows in April Fool's prank

LOS ANGELES - American comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon don't just share the same first name - they are also both part of an illustrious and exclusive club of late-night talk show hosts.

And in a clever and elaborate April Fool's Day prank on their audiences, they exchanged television shows for one night only on Friday (April 1).

Fallon, 47, turned up at the Hollywood Boulevard studio where Jimmy Kimmel Live is broadcast, while Kimmel, 54, flew over to New York City's Rockefeller Center on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

"It's really strange being here. I feel like somebody opened a late-night multiverse," Fallon joked during his opening monlogue, after the surprised audience gave him a standing ovation.

Meanwhile in New York City, Kimmel quipped, "How many of you are disappointed, be honest... This is something we've been planning for years, it was a top-secret operation."

The two hosts later checked in with each other via video call, during which they said that they had been planning the stunt since April 2020.

Each late-night talk show also broadcast pre-filmed segments involving both hosts, including one where they discussed the different ways they are frequently mistaken for each other.

The jokes didn't stop there. Fallon went on to introduce actor Matt Damon as one of his guests for his stint on Kimmel's show, but it turned out to be singer Justin Timberlake in a baseball outfit and an amusing attempt at a Boston accent - Boston native Damon is famously a fan of the city's Red Sox baseball team.

This is not the first time the two popular late-night talk shows have played host to an "old switcheroo" as Kimmel described it.

In November last year, actors Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds surprised the two Jimmys by showing up in each other's place; with Ferrell at Jimmy Kimmel Live instead of Reynolds, and Deadpool actor Reynolds filling in at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Each man dressed and acted as if they were last-minute, off-the-street replacements, with Ferrell, who is known for popular comedies like Elf (2003) and Step Brothers (2008), telling Kimmel, "Ryan couldn't make it. I got a text from him that said he was running late, which usually means he's not going to show up... he just asked if I would fill in so I just rolled down the hill."

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