Like everyone else in Hollywood, Jimmy Kimmel was stoked about the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which finally came to a close on Thursday.
“Finally, actors can get back to their real jobs,” he said at the start of his “Jimmy Kimmel Live” monologue, “which is — playing people with real jobs.”
Of course by now you know that the actors’ strike, part of the larger Hollywood strike that began in may with the Writers Guild of America, finally ended Wednesday night after SAG-AFTRA reached a reasonable deal with studios.
The full details of the new contract haven’t been released to the public yet, but they’ll be reviewed by the guild’s board on Friday — SAG-AFTRA leaders will also be holding a press conference Friday afternoon to discuss it.
“Thank you for joining us on ‘take yourself back to work day’ here in Hollywood,” Kimmel began. “Where most of the movie and TV business has been at a stop, a standstill, since May. Writers’ Strike started in May. But at long last, the actor’s strike is finally over.”
Kimmel joked that “The Hallmark Channel immediately started shooting all 1,200 of its Christmas movies this morning,” adding that “one member of the negotiating committee said that there were ‘tears of exhilaration and joy’ in the room after the deal was approved, and – it only took them a few takes. It was very realistic.”
“This was the longest actor strike ever. 118 days. That’s a lot of days. To give you some context of how long this strike went on, here is Rob Lowe on day one of the strike, and this is what Rob looks like today,” Kimmel said showing two recent photos of the actor, the joke being that Lowe is very attractive.
“Well, maybe Rob wasn’t the best person to illustrate the point, but you get it was a long strike.”
“Even President Biden praised the deal,” Kimmel continued. “He said now ‘the entertainment industry can continue telling the stories of America, and get back to showing those big ol Bazoombas on the HBO channel.’”
“But it’s very good news,” Kimmel added. “Finally, actors can get back to their real jobs…which is…playing people with real jobs.”
