Jane, 12, is being “annoying and presumptuous,” Kimmel joked.

Jimmy Kimmel’s daughter is convinced she will inherit his talk show

Jane, 12, is being “annoying and presumptuous,” Kimmel joked.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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August 26, 2026 11:19 p.m. ET

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Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ in 2025. Credit:

Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty

- Jimmy Kimmel says his 12-year-old daughter, Jane, thinks she will take over his talk show one day.

- He said that she even began crying when the show was temporarily pulled off the air.

- Kimmel and wife Molly McNearney also share a son, Billy, 9.

Jimmy Kimmel’s daughter Jane has big ambitions.

The 12-year-old has been worried about the fate of *Jimmy Kimmel Live*, because she believes that one day she’ll be the one delivering the monologue and interviewing celebs, the *Jimmy Kimmel Live** *late-night host and his wife, Molly McNearney, revealed in an episode of Dax Shepard’s *Armchair Expert* podcast posted Monday.

When the late-night show was temporarily yanked off the air in September, Jane “started crying, because her show was going away,” Shepard noted.

Kimmel joked that he found her emotional reaction “annoying and presumptuous,” before he got serious.

“For whatever reason, she’s decided, even though she’s one of my four children, that she is taking over the show. It was never a conversation even. It was just like, ‘Yeah, I will, of course, run the family business,’” Kimmel said.

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The comedian and McNearney, an executive producer and co-head writer on the show, have welcomed two children since they married in 2013: Jane and her 9-year-old. brother, Billy. Kimmel shares adult children Katie and Kevin with ex-wife Gina Maddy.

Kimmel isn’t the only late-night host whose kid wanted to succeed him on TV.

“I told John Stewart about this. He said, ‘Yeah. My son said the same thing when he was little.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, and then I will be taking over* The Daily Show*.’ And he was like, ‘What’s with this ‘Trevor’ character?’”

Trevor is, of course, Trevor Noah, who hosted the satirical news show from 2015 to 2022, after Stewart’s departure. Stewart has since returned to host on Mondays and for special episodes.

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Kimmel also talked about how he spoke with Jane about his public clashes with President Donald Trump.

Shepard couldn’t help but explain that, “You had said to Jane, ‘I hope you know that over time you’ll find out that we were on the right side of history.’ To which she replied, ‘I thought we were on the left.’”

*Jimmy Kimmel Live *has been on the air since January 2003, and the show has had guest hosts.** **While Kimmel has been on summer vacation this year, Anthony Anderson, Jelly Roll, and Rosie O’Donnell have been sitting in for him as host.

Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearney with their kids, Jane and Billy, in 2024.

Vivien Killilea/Getty

During her turn, O’Donnell made sure to send a message to Trump, with whom the *Sleepless in Seattle* star has been embroiled in a feud for decades.

“Hi! I know you’re watching,” she said directly to the camera.

Kimmel said in June that he would take a two-month break, so he will likely be back soon — sorry, Jane!

*Jimmy Kimmel Live *airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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