Jimmy Kimmel explains distaste for Jay Leno, blasts his stand-up routine

Jimmy Kimmel has a big move coming up to 11:35 p.m. Eastern time, and this has led him to embark on a promotional tour that includes stopping everywhere from ESPN to the latest issue of Rolling Stone, where he took advantage of the opportunity to specifically rip into one of his biggest rivals in Jay Leno.

Kimmel’s dislike of Leno goes a long way back, and you really have to do your research to understand all of it. Problems began back before Kimmel was even in late-night, but as a notoriously big fan of David Letterman, he was obviously irked when NBC chose to give Jay “The Tonight” show rather than his hero.

If you are looking for a more personal reason behind the hatred, there’s this: Kimmel explains in the interview that back when Leno was in negotiations to host a late-night show at ABC during a dispute over “The Tonight Show,” Leno was kind and gracious to Kimmel. Then, he never called him against after the idea fell apart.

Of course, none of the stories really compare to the comments that are coming up when it comes to Jay’s standup, which he still works on by performing comedy shows on a regular basis:

“Leno hasn’t been a good stand-up in 20 years … As a comedian, you can’t not have disdain for what he’s done: He totally sold out. He was a master chef who opened a Burger King.”

What’s interesting about these comments is that David Letterman says something rather similar in his interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday, claiming that Jay was one of the “funniest” people that he had ever known, but that he had become so insecure that it became impossible for the two to be friends.

What do you think about Kimmel’s comments? If you want to hear some more anti-Jay comments from Kimmel, you can do so over here.