Having sat through the entire ABC/Obama health care town hall last night, I stayed up to catch Jimmy Kimmel for the first time in quite a while. It began, as is typical, with a “live” (to tape) commercial for Jack in the Box’s Mini Buffalo Ranch chicken sandwiches. And it made me think: poor Jimmy Kimmel. Not only has he been almost entirely overlooked in the horserace coverage over Dave, Conan and Jay, but—with all the talk about whether Jay Leno will do live ads on his 10 p.m. show—he’s scarcely gotten credit for doing more than anyone to revive the ancient art of the late-night-host ad:
This, by the way, all follows in the footsteps of Ed McMahon, who used to do spots for Alpo dog food on The Tonight Show. Thus TV’s circle of life continues.
