For the very first time on Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel got his childhood hero David Letterman to sit with him at his theater in Los Angeles. And just a few days after the Academy Awards, the former night host was apparently in the mood to chat about Hollywood.
“This was a sensational moment for the country and the network and for yourself,” Letterman told the host of his third time hosting the Oscars. ‘You know what this makes of you, Don‘not you? You are the Prince of Hollywood.” He then added, “Congratulations, because you brought this carcass back to life, and the network and the Academy should be very grateful to you, good job.”
In contrast, when Letterman hosted the awards ceremony in 1995, he joked, “It was such a bombshell, the Academy thought maybe they were terrorists.” He went on to gulp about the bit he “really enjoyed” where Kimmel had to tell Cocaine Bear to leave Malala Yousafzai alone.
Kimmel made a real effort to change the subject and talk about his guest’s more recent outing in serious interviews, but Letterman wasn’t in the mood. “The show was so bad the Academy got together and they said, ‘We can never let this happen again!'” he joked, “so they shut down the movie industry for a year.”
But then Letterman finally switched from self-deprecating humor to an even bigger celebrity target.
“Here’s something that might be a little touchy,” Letterman said. “Where Was Tom Cruise?”
After a short pause, Kimmel replied, “We don’t know where Tom Cruise was. We heard ‘production problems’.’ When Letterman called that “bullshit,” Kimmel said, “Right‘It’s very non-specific, but we have no idea what happened.’
According to pre-ceremony reports, the Top gun: Maverick star couldn’t attend because he was filming the last one Mission Impossible film abroad, while other rumors indicated he was trying to avoid a run-in with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. It later emerged that he had been in London to celebrate Michael Caine’s 90th birthday.
“Tom Cruise should have been there to celebrate his big jet-pack maverick show,” Letterman told Kimmel, who suggested he may have skipped the event because he knew he wasn’t going to win. “Between you and me, he should have been there, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Kimmel replied, “he’s the Prince of Hollywood.”
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