With Jimmy Kimmel spending some quality time with his son this week, several guest hosts will be stepping in to watch over the show and give it the care it deserves. The first to step up into Kimmel’s spot is NBA legend and current NBA On TNT troublemaker Shaquille O’Neal. While the former superstar is a veteran of the television game at this point, this is his first time stepping in as a late night host apparently. With Magic Johnson being the only former player to enter the late night realm in the past — and that Bill Bradley late night show we try to convince people existed — the confidence couldn’t have been very high. But with a funny opening with Kimmel’s pal Guillermo and the words of encouragement from the host himself, Shaq fit into the role pretty well.
I am thankful for and excited to see my dear @SHAQ guest-hosting my show tonight and making my desk look tiny
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) October 31, 2017
His monologue proved that, moving through some tame jokes to open things up, saying Guillermo’s name wrong, and giving himself some punny late night names. That’s all well and good, but the really good stuff comes when Shaq shows off the clip from KTLA reporting on the scary plane incident with the Oklahoma City Thunder over the weekend. The accident was likely caused by a bird, but he joke from KTLA blames it on Shaq trying to shoot a free throw. The wound just won’t heal.
Shaq also gets the honor of announcing this years Jimmy Kimmel Halloween candy prank, using the moment as his time to complain about the “fun size” portions for candy bars. When you’re a giant, there’s not much that’s fun about “fun size” candy bars. There is plenty that’s funny about Shaq falling asleep in the toilet, though. You can see it all in the full monologue below.
(Via Jimmy Kimmel Live)
