Jimmy Kimmel Explains His Political and Emotional Jokes

In a new cover story for GQ Magazine, comedian Jimmy Kimmel pulls back the curtain to give his audience — and his detractors — more insight into his life, his television show, and all of that crying he’s done lately.

“I still wish I could keep it together. I see others keeping it together, and it makes me wonder if I’m emotionally unstable,” Kimmel said of the emotional monologues he’s delivered on Live! “My dad is the same way. He’s definitely the same way. We don’t express a great deal of emotion, but when we do, it really comes pouring out.”

Sometimes, though, you have to cry so that you can laugh, a thin line Kimmel told GQ he loves to traverse as both participant and entertainer.

“You take a risk when you make a comment that is dark,” Kimmel said. “In a way, it’s you saying, ‘I trust you. I trust your sense of humor, and I trust that you will not use this against me.’ It’s a little gift, I think. When somebody makes a truly offensive joke to me, I love them a little bit more. If it’s just offensive, it’s no good. But there’s nothing better than when something emotional or serious is going on, maybe it’s a wedding toast, and somebody funny leans over and whispers something terrible into your ear. I live for those moments. I live for being the one who does the whispering.”