4 months ago
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A moment that still lives rent-free in my head is Jimmy Kimmel’s clapback to Trump at the end of hosting the Oscars: “Isn’t it past your jail time?” Still good. I guess it’s also been on my mind as the criminal trial has been unfolding in NYC (I know, I know, don’t get your hopes up Kismet). Jimmy appeared on Seth Meyers’ show the other day, and Seth started by asking Jimmy if he had plans to check out the trial scene while he’s in town. He does not. Jimmy then got around to dropping some fragrant tea. Seth commented on Jimmy having been a late night host for nearly 22 years now (yikes, when did that happen?!), and prodded Jimmy for some insight. Pulling from his decades of research in the field, Jimmy shared that “the worst-smelling guests are the best-looking guys.” Go on…
Seth Meyers: Are there things you notice over 20+ years of doing this?
Jimmy Kimmel: No, not really. But… I wonder what you think about this. One of the things we get to experience as a talk show host that the home viewers don’t… is the smell of the guests. I found that the worst-smelling guests are the best-looking guys… Some of these guys who’ve been on the cover of People Magazine, sexiest man alive, they have an odor. Like an, ‘I don’t need to wear deodorant because I’m that attractive.’ I think they do it to try to tamp it down a bit, the attractive factor. Like in the way porcupines have quills, to keep the predators from eating them.
SM: I like that. And to keep the predators from having sex with them…
JK: But some guys are so good looking. Like, you’re a good looking guy, but not so good looking that you could afford to not bathe.
SM: Thank you.
JK: For me, with this face, I have to smell really good. You know. I have to be minty fresh at all times.
SM: Even today you said, ‘I need a dressing room with a shower.’
[Transcript from YouTube via SOW]
I love this — now every guest who thinks he’s a knockout in the looks department will be on high alert to bathe in cologne before appearing on Kimmel. Or at the very least, some poor person on their team will be responsible for doing sniff tests before releasing their star to the El Capitan Entertainment Center. Oh please let there be an intern on Kimmel’s staff tasked with keeping a database to track celebs with fragrances! It’s for science, people!! Jimmy was careful not to name the stinkers… but guess who’s been on his show 10 times according to IMDb? None other than Jake Gyllenhaal, patient zero for the great unwashed celebrities bathing debate of 2021! Of course I’m not saying outright that Gyllenhaal was the guest who made Kimmel first notice the correlation between “attractiveness” and “stank,” particularly because he’s never been Sexiest Man Alive. But it does smell right.
photos credit: Avalon.red / Avalon and Getty
