Jimmy Kimmel To Fill In For Regis

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (October 14, 2007) — Jimmy Kimmel is going bicoastal.

The host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will fill in for a vacationing Regis Philbin on “Live with Regis and Kelly” in New York while still hosting his namesake show from Los Angeles.

During the week of Oct. 22, Kimmel will fly back and forth across the country daily, co-hosting with Kelly Ripa in New York each morning and taping his own show in Los Angeles each night.

That’s two cross-country flights a day for five days.

“I am a little bit insane,” Kimmel told The Associated Press. “It will be difficult, but that’s how committed I am to entertaining America. And parts of Canada.”

Kimmel plans to prepare for his nightly show while flying west and hopes to catch some sleep during his overnight flights east.

The cross-country element adds spice to the show, he said. “For whatever we lose from not being able to prepare for a long time, I think we’ll gain in stories and stunts as it happens,” he said. “People can tune in and watch me collapse on air.”

If there’s a good guest on “Live with Regis and Kelly,” he said, “I might force them on the plane and make them come back to L.A. with me.”

Some of the guests expected on “Live” that week include Renee Zellweger, Steve Carell, Anderson Cooper and Carrie Underwood. Kimmel’s guests will include Josh Hartnett, Brad Paisley, Mira Sorvino and Ben Harper.

Kimmel agreed to the bicoastal gig because “you can easily get in a rut when you’re doing a show every night and this is definitely not rut territory,” he said, adding, “if you give me enough advance notice, I will agree to almost anything.”

He said he’ll keep up the coast-to-coast trek all week — no cheating and taping two shows in one night. So will he get some time off after doing double duty? Not a chance.

“We’ll go right into November sweeps,” he said. “Then I’m hosting the American Music Awards in mid-November. I also drive a cab on weekends.”