Headliners at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club sound off on cancellation
A pair of Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club’s headliners sounded off after learning their club’s namesake’s show was being taken off the air.
“I think this is an egregious and hypocritical threat to our First Amendment right to free speech,” said Luenell, who commands the late-night slots on Sundays and Mondays. “I’m riding with Jimmy. He has allowed me to be at his club and have free speech for five years. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, it gets worse.”
Luenell, a Las Vegas resident, has appeared on Kimmel’s television show three times and at the club since 2020.
On Wednesday, Kimmel posted on social media “Please stop messaging me. I have no comment at this time.” Representatives for Kimmel did not respond to a request for comment.
Fellow JKCC comic Butch Bradley said he feels audiences should make up their own minds if material is appropriate.
“People can watch me every single night, and thankfully the majority enjoyed me. But those that don’t are more than welcome not to return,” Bradley said. “They’re more than welcome to look for other comedians that bring them what they’re looking for.”
Bradley is a veteran stand-up who plays multiple clubs, and he performs at JKCC at 10 p.m. Thursdays and 8 p.m. Sundays with co-headliner Brett Ernst. He says he faces the dilemma of using sensitive material in his act.
“How crazy is it that every night I tell jokes for a living, I flex freedom of speech to its max and let the people decide what they want to hear,” Bradley said.
The comedian also noted Stephen Colbert’s return to his late-night show on CBS, as Colbert was allowed to come back even though the network is pulling his show in May, claiming financial losses.
“If you’re going to put Colbert back on the air, you have to put Jimmy back on,” Bradley said. “But I don’t watch them. I’m waiting for David Letterman to come back. But Jimmy Fallon seems to get me through, with a hint of ‘SNL.’”
Bradley has headlined in Las Vegas for 25 years and moved here in 2019. He most recently performed at Westgate’s International Theater (opening for Howie Mandel), the Comedy Cellar at the Rio, the now-closed Laugh Factory at the Trop, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand and L.A. Comedy Club at The Strat.
Bradley also appeared in the 2024 Ronald Reagan biopic “Reagan,” as frontman of the Continentals vocal quartet, which backed Reagan at the New Frontier’s Ramona Room in 1954.
Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club operator and Vegas native Damian Costa of Pompey Entertainment was not immediately available for comment.
Kimmel himself is from Las Vegas, a Kenny Guinn Middle School and Clark High graduate who attended UNLV. His sister, Jill Kimmel, is a touring comic who has headlined her brother’s club. She offered no comment, and posted on her FB page, “Please stop messaging me. I have no comment at this time.”
Rob Sherwood, another longtime Vegas comic and opener for Carrot Top at Luxor, has been consistently critical of Trump on social media. But Sherwood, a stand-up for 20 years, doesn’t use Trump material in his set. “I leave it alone,” he said. “It gets too divisive.”
Of Kimmel’s show being taken down, Sherwood offered only, “It’s a dark day for comedy.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
