Jimmy Kimmel

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, producer, writer, comedian, voice actor, musician and radio personality. He is the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC in 2003. Kimmel also hosted the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 23, 2012.

Prior to hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel has also produced such shows as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Early life

Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the neighborhood of Mill Basin the eldest of three children of Joan (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James John Kimmel, an IBM executive.

He is, and was raised, Catholic, and as a child served as an altar boy. Kimmel's mother is of Italian ancestry; two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were German emigrants, and his family's surname was "Kümmel" several generations back. The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School.

Jimmy Perry

James "Jimmy" Perry, OBE (born 9 September 1923) is an English writer, scriptwriter, and actor, best known for devising and co-writing the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army (1968–1977), It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981), Hi-De-Hi (1980–1988) and You Rang M'Lord? (1988–1993) with David Croft.

Early life

Perry was born in Barnes, London on 20 September 1923. His father, Arthur was an antiques dealer and he was educated at two independent schools: at Colet Court and St Paul's School, which at the time were both based in Hammersmith in West London (now in Barnes).

Life and career

Perry is credited with the original idea for Dad's Army, which was based on his experiences in the Home Guard during World War II. He also collaborated with Croft on It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord?

Sitcoms

Many of the sitcoms Perry co-wrote with Croft drew heavily on his personal experience: at 16 he joined the Watford Home Guard (Dad's Army); two years later he was called up into the full-time forces, and was sent to Burma with the Royal Artillery, where he joined the Royal Artillery Concert Party and reached the rank of sergeant. Demobbed and back in the UK, he trained as an actor at RADA, spending his holidays working as a Redcoat in Butlin's Holiday Camps.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, as the first program to air immediately following ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios. Having aired for more than twice as long as either the The Dick Cavett Show (1969–1975) or Politically Incorrect (1997–2002), it is the longest running late-night talk show in ABC's history at 13 years and counting as of 15 February 2016.

For its first ten years, the show aired at either the Midnight or 12:05 AM timeslot before moving to 11:35 pm ET beginning on January 8, 2013 to more directly compete with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman while bumping the ABC nightly news program Nightline to 12:35 am ET. Following the subsequent retirements of Leno in February 2014 and Letterman in May 2015, Kimmel is now the longest serving host in network late-night television.

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is a BBC television sitcom about the British Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on the BBC from 1968 to 1977. The sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio version based on the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide.

The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age (hence the nickname "Dad's Army") or by being in professions exempt from conscription. Dad's Army deals almost exclusively with over age men, and featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley and John Laurie. Younger members in the cast included Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn (who played the oldest guardsman, Lance Corporal Jones), Frank Williams, James Beck (who died suddenly during production of the programme's sixth series in 1973), and air raid warden Bill Pertwee.

Eiffel 65

Eiffel 65 is an Italian musical group consisting of Jeffrey Jey, Gabry Ponte, and Maurizio Lobina. They are known chiefly for their high-charting singles, "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" and "Move Your Body", and their 1999 studio album Europop. Their next two albums, Contact! (2001) and their 2003 self-titled album, did not have much international success but still managed to chart in Italy.

History

Formation

Randone, Ponte and Lobina met each other at Bliss Corporation, which was founded in 1992 by Massimo Gabutti. A computer chose the name Eiffel randomly from a group of words the three liked. The number 65 was added mistakenly to an early pressing of their first single, Blue (Da Ba Dee). Jeffrey Jey explained:

1998–2005

Eiffel 65 is best known for using pitch correction and Auto-Tune and for their international chart-topping hits "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" and "Move Your Body", which appeared on their album Europop, released in late 1999.

Eiffel 65 achieved considerable success in Italy, the rest of Europe, United States, and Canada. Europop peaked in the top five on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million units. "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.