Regis Philbin, who hosted the original version of ABC’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Game Show host in 2001.
Nearly, 25 years later, the category has been upgraded to the Creative Arts Emmys and Jimmy Kimmel, one of his successors, repeated this feat.
Kimmel won the Emmy for Outstanding Host For A Game Show, beating Press Your Luck’s Elizabeth Banks, Celebrity Family Feud’s Steve Harvey, Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings and Pop Culture Jeopardy!’s Colin Jost.
After picking up the award, Kimmel thanked Philbin for “watching over all of us right now” and for launching the show. Philbin died in 2020.
He also thanked ABC, unscripted chief Rob Mills, Sony Pictures Television and Michael Davies, the Brit who exec produces show.
In fact, Davies produced the show that won Kimmel his first Emmy. Davies produced Win Ben Stein’s Money, the game show that aired on Comedy Central between 1997 and 2003. In 1999, Kimmel and Stein won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, beating The Price Is Right’s Bob Barker, Hollywood Squares’ Tom Bergeron, Wheel of Fortune’s Pat Sajak and Jeopardy!’s Alex Trebek.
Kimmel’s other Emmy wins have largely been for Live In Front of a Studio Audience, the live variety special that he hosted and produced with Norman Lear.
Coming backstage after his Millionaire win, Kimmel said he was surprised to win. He also talked about how shocked he was 27 years ago to win for Win Ben Stein’s Money, which was Comedy Central’s first Emmy. He also shared an anecdote about how ridiculous he felt winning his first Emmy while Susan Lucci was sitting in the front row and she hadn’t won yet, so he handed his Emmy to her.
Kimmel, who is seemingly actively supporting The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the Outstanding Talk Series category that his Jimmy Kimmel Live! is also nominated in, was also asked backstage how long he will remain in late-night.
“I’m not prepared to answer that question, it’s something I think about a lot, things have changed a lot over the last few years, the last nine years, each day is a new adventure and I kind of take them as they come,” he said.
Kimmel signed a three-year deal in 2022 that expires in 2026 and he has famously vaccilated over the years as to whether to continue.
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