Somebody at ESPN forgot that Jimmy Kimmel was a comedian

Posted on Wed Oct 17, 2007 at 10:56:23 AM EST in NFL
More on: Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Theismann, Monday Night Football, ESPN (all tags)

In case you missed the third quarter of Monday night's game between New York and Atlanta then you didn't miss much. Well, you didn't miss much on the field. Inside the commentators box was a whole other story.

The MNF crew welcomed Jimmy Kimmel into the booth and then immediately regretted it as he started ribbing on Joe Theismann.

He joked about where Joe Theismann was (fired and replaced by Ron Jaworski); cracked that it was Tony Kornheiser who got Theismann axed; asked Kornheiser and Jaworski if they bet on games (they played along); and said, "I'd also like to welcome Joe Theismann, watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears."

The last remark was ignored by Kornheiser, Jaworski and Mike Tirico.

Jay Rothman, ESPN's "Monday Night" producer, called Kimmel's comments "classless and disappointing. It was cheap. The more he went on, the worse he got.

Kimmel was basically banned from the show afterwards, but we're curious to know what they expecting when they brought him in? You knew he was going straight for the throat before you even hunted him down to do the spot.

Theisman claimed to not have an opinion about the whole situation other than saying "it's nice to know you're missed" and "It's interesting that people remember me."

Aww, come on, Joe; of course we remember you! How could we forget the guy who tried to kiss Suzy Kolber on-air. Oh, wait, wrong Joe. Were you the guy who got his leg snapped?

Links:
[NYTimes.com]: `Monday Night' Is Not Amused by Kimmel

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