Jimmy Kimmel is growing on me. Granted he has very little competition -- I don't mean in numbers, but in talent -- but he's starting to shine.

A few nights ago I saw a bit called "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship." I laughed harder than I've laughed in months! The part at :58 nearly busted my gut!



Well there's not much to say after that, is there? But I will. The night of this writing Kimmel's guest was Al Sharpton. He played Sharpton's remark from the Michael Jackson memorial where he told Jackson's white kids, "There was nothing strange about your daddy. What was strange was what he had to deal with."

Then Kimmel pulled out a stack of MJ photos and confronted Sharpton with them. "Here's Michael Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber...here he is with his pet monkey...here he is with his children dressed as cockatoos..." I paused from putting milk on my cereal to see if Sharpton would explode and curse Kimmel out before storming off the set. Sharpton ruined Don Imus' career over a thoughtless aside that wasn't worth two seconds of discussion, but I give him credit, he goes on shows like Howard Stern and Jimmy Kimmel and lets them bust his balls and never gets upset. Kudos to Kimmel (or his writers) for pulling a bit reminiscent of good, old-fashioned Letterman or Stern where he called Sharpton on a horeshit statement.

And yes, of course his writers come up with this stuff, but Conan's writers also came up with great stuff. I loved Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog ("Oh, David Lee Roth! It's really you! I've been looking for the valet parking attendant all night!"), the Masturbating Bear and "In the Year 2000." Conan's bits were great, if only it wasn't for his monologue and interviews. In other words, all the parts starring Conan! Kimmel is low-key enough that if you don't dig him personally, he doesn't ruin the broth. I find he can occasionally be pretty witty, though.

So maybe late night isn't a lost cause. Maybe I can give a few minutes to Kimmel and a few to Spankwire. Talk about a Masturbating Bear.