‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Reduces Musical Guests to Twice a Week

Molly Tuttle on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, image via YouTube

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will reportedly reduce the frequency of its musical guests. Going forward, ABC’s two-decade late-night program will limit its live performance segments to twice a week.

The Hollywood Reporter detailed that producer Jim Pitt informed the show’s staff of the change in the past few weeks without offering any reason for the decision. Kimmel, now the second-longest-running late-night program after Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, had been one of the last examples of the music-forward traditional late-night format, with musicians participating in most airings since its debut in 2003. While Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show still currently hosts musical guests nearly every night, performances on peer programs have steadily declined; Late Night With Seth Meyers rarely featured music even prior to the loss of its Fred Armisen-fronted house band to budget cuts, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had limited the offering before its imminent cancellation.

While the late-night bookings aren’t the make-or-break opportunity that they once were, and late-night shows in general have struggled to reach new audiences in recent years, the decline of live performances forecloses one more opportunity for rising artists to be cosigned by trusted cultural institutions. Alongside the decline of print media, new challenges for digital journalism, and the ever-narrowing influence of independent radio, music discovery has become more horizontal, and increasingly dependent on social media and algorithms.

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel Live! featured a set from bluegrass firebrand and Relix favorite Molly Tuttle, who performed “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark” from her 2025 album So Long Little Miss Sunshine. Debbie Gibson and The Cletones and KPop Demon Hunters’ HUNTR/X will perform through the end of the week. Find more information on the show’s schedule here.