On new podcast, Jimmy Kimmel says he was “very intent” on retiring before the WGA strike

In the first installment of Spotify’s Strike Force Five podcast, Jimmy Kimmel told his fellow late-night hosts he was “very ready” to retire before the Writers Guild of America strike forced their shows to go dark.

As reported, Strike Force Five united Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers to chat about the strikes, in a program that’s been created to benefit their out-of-work writers and show staff.

“I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started,” Kimmel said on the premiere episode. “And now I realize, ‘Oh yeah, it’s kind of nice to work.'”

Meyers quickly chimed in, “Kimmel, c’mon, you are the Tom Brady of late night … you have feigned retirement.” Kimmel insisted he was “serious … very, very serious” about hanging it up.

Early in the conversation, the moderator, Kimmel, asked his colleagues if people on the street have asked them about the strike, to which Colbert said they usually asked “how the vacation’s going?”

Colbert quipped, “I usually say, ‘This is like a vacation in the same way a colonoscopy is like a nap.'”

Later in the podcast, Kimmel revealed Ben Affleck “and the despicable Matt Damon” offered to pay his Jimmy Kimmel Live staff “out of their own pockets” for two weeks, but he refused, saying he felt it “was not their responsibility” to do so.

Jimmy also said co-sponsor Ryan Reynolds offered free Mint Mobile service for a year for the out-of-work show staff.