Jimmy Kimmel Live! had its “drunk and disorderly” debut 15 years ago today

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A inebriated audience — including one woman who vomited — greeted Jimmy Kimmel for the launch of his then-live talk show on January 26, 2003 following the Super Bowl. George Clooney was Kimmel's first guest and Snoop Dogg was guest co-host for the week. They both drank liquor on air, along with the audience had access to free drinks. Snoop also raised his middle finger to the camera, stressing out the censors. “The producers’ decision to distribute beer and wine to the studio audience before the show hit the air around 12:30 a.m. Sunday night, did not go over well either,” The New York Post reported at the time. “The network had a meltdown,” then-executive producer Daniel Kellison told the Post. The audience that night included then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and then-ABC boss Lloyd Braun.

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• Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s launch was the subject of a 2003 documentary, The New Face of Late Night TV, on the New York Times' Discovery Channel
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