Jimmy Kimmel has COVID, Mike Birbiglia subs for him
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, left, is having comic Mike Birbiglia host "Live!" while the former recovers from COVID-19. Credit: Composite: Getty Images / Kevin Winter, left; Getty Images for The Michael J. Fox Foundation / Noam Galai
Talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel announced Monday that he had contracted the coronavirus and that fellow comic Mike Birbiglia would be filling in for an indefinite period.
"Our daughter brought us covid (even though we specifically asked her not to)," the Brooklyn-born Kimmel, 54, wrote kiddingly on Twitter and Instagram, referring to his and wife Molly McNearney's daughter Jane, 7. They also have a son, Billy, 5. "All feeling fine, I am double vaxxed and boosted but the show must not go on. Apologies to @TomCruise & @iliza and thanks to Mike Birbiglia @birbigs who'll be filling in for me starting tomorrow night."
The Monday edition of the ABC late-night show had been scheduled to feature Cruise, promoting his upcoming film "Top Gun: Maverick," and stand-up comic Iliza Shlesinger. Airing instead was a repeat of the April 25 show, with "Barry" star Bill Hader, comic Mo Amer and musical guest Sasha Alex Sloan.
Birbiglia, who had been a scheduled guest on Tuesday along with Mike Myers, instead was bumped to guest-host, with Shlesinger taking his original slot. The Black Crowes were the musical guest.
The remaining schedule went unchanged: Ewan McGregor, Ben Schwartz and musical guest The Head and the Heart on Wednesday, and Kevin Hart and Hannah Einbinder on Thursday. A rerun typically airs on Fridays.
"I must be the first person to ever deplane a Southwest Airlines flight and find out they're guest-hosting a late night talk show," Birbiglia, 43, tweeted. "Sending love to the Kimmels. See you on the TV tomorrow, friends." On Kimmel's Instagram post, he commented, "All my love to the Kimmels. Honored to sit in.”
Supportive comments also came from actor Kevin Bacon and from "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof, who riffed, "The culminating moment of one's success should always be, 'Apologies to Tom Cruise.' "
