Jimmy Kimmel has had plenty of fun with GOP presidential contender Donald Trump, and on Tuesday he got to take jabs at the entire Republican field.
With the fourth GOP showdown airing on Fox Business on Tuesday after the predecessors on Fox News, CNN and (most notoriously) CNBC, the ABC late-night host lined up some interesting new network options.
“Tonight’s debate was televised on the Fox Business Channel. Between now and November of next year, every cable network gets a debate,” he joked.
“Next week, is the E! News debate moderated by Ryan Seacrest and Caitlyn Jenner?” he asked.
The biggest hope for the coverage was to garner a more positive response for moderators Gerard Baker (Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief), Maria Bartiromo and Neil Cavuto than CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood did last month.
“This debate was a little different. As I’m sure you know, the moderators from CNBC were attacked for being too tough on the candidates,” Kimmel said. “Tonight, Neil Cavuto promised that his goal was to be ‘invisible.’ I think Jeb Bush has the very same goal.”
While there’s always something to laugh about during a debate — whether it’s good or bad — Kimmel thinks it would be far more entertaining if the presidential candidates did shots beforehand.
“I would like to see them have a drunk debate — everyone gets loaded and we find out what they really think,” he said.
Viewers may have may have noticed that the candidates for the main debate have been cut down from 10 to eight, with two unlucky White House hopefuls being booted to the undercard contest.
“Only the candidates polling above 2.5 percent got to be in the main debate — the other guys were demoted to the kids table,” Kimmel explained.
“And good luck fighting Chris Christie for the McNuggets at the kids table!”
The main event from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday featured Trump, Bush, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Rand Paul.
The “happy hour” debate featured Christie, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.