GLENN: Jimmy Kimmel seems like a pretty likable guy. I've laughed at some of the segments of his late night show. But he's been getting more and more political on his jokes and on his show lately. And he's caused an awful lot of attention.
Yesterday, he was on CBS Sunday Morning. And here's what he had to say.
VOICE: One conservative commentator in particular who says, who made Jimmy Kimmel the moral arbiter?
JIMMY: I'm not. Yeah, I agree with them. I'm nobody's moral arbiter. I mean, you don't have to watch the show. You don't have to listen to what I say.
GLENN: Okay. He might think that he's nobody's moral arbiter. But when he does these political monologues, he's presenting himself as one. It's the same thing that I do, Jimmy. And you know how you feel about me.
Here's what annoys so many Americans: Comedians will present their opinions as if it's the default position of the country. There's no nuance, no recognition that there are millions of potential viewers that really disagree with them.
JIMMY: Three years ago, I was equally liked by Republicans and Democrats. And then Republican numbers went way down, like 30 percent, or whatever. And, you know, as a talk show host, that's not ideal. But I would do it again in a heartbeat.
GLENN: Okay. So if I was ABC, I would call Jimmy and remind him that his job was to get as many viewers as possible. So alienating a chunk of the audience is bad for business. When he abandons comedy for serious diatribes on politics, he's not doing his job.
The other thing is, it ignores -- it ignores and annoys half of the country. If people want politics, they'll watch another channel. They'll watch, you know, a show like this. Or they'll go someplace where they expected.
How many of us, left and right, just want to laugh?
VOICE: So you don't mind if Republicans turn off your show, they're not watching anymore?
JIMMY: I don't say I don't mind. I mean, I'd love for everyone -- I want everyone with a television to watch the show.
But if they're so turned off by my opinion on health care and gun violence, then I don't know, I probably won't want to have a conversation with them anyway.
VOICE: Good riddance?
JIMMY: Well, not good riddance. But riddance.
GLENN: Hmm. This is the most important thing that he said: I probably wouldn't want to have a conversation with them anyway. How many times are we going to hear this in our society?
Because that's the takeaway. Not that he's saying something, you know, about guns or health care or anything else. Not that he's losing audience or gaining others.
That he says, if you disagree with me, I probably wouldn't want to have a conversation with you anyway.
Kimmel can have all the political opinions he wants. And because of his celebrity, he'll have the opportunities to talk about them.
These late night hosts might be surprised how much of the audience would just really appreciate them, doing their job, and not pissing me off at the end of the day. And just making us all laugh and come together as Americans.