--- title: Jimmy Kimmel Talks About Bombing at Bill Gates Roast description: Jimmy Kimmel was once called upon to participate in a roast of Bill Gates. Unfortunately, the joke-fest apparently didn't go so well. canonical: https://time.com/5695264/jimmy-kimmel-bill-gates-roast/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-08T16:35:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:00:44.411Z og:title: Jimmy Kimmel Explains Why His Roast of Bill Gates Didn't Go So Hot og:description: "The roastee was not laughing. Not even a little bit" og:url: https://time.com/5695264/jimmy-kimmel-bill-gates-roast/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8131ef2fe1f9c277/698a03fa86f68ef9506edaed/jimmykimmelonbillgates.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" - Season 17 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Kimmel Explains Why His Roast of Bill Gates Didn't Go So Hot twitter:description: "The roastee was not laughing. Not even a little bit" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8131ef2fe1f9c277/698a03fa86f68ef9506edaed/jimmykimmelonbillgates.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'It Was a Disaster.' Jimmy Kimmel Explains Why His Roast of Bill Gates Didn't Go So Hot  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 8, 2019 4:35 PM UTC  "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EDT and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Thursday, October 3, included Danny DeVito ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), Bob Iger ("The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company"), and musical guest Anderson .Paak Feat. Smokey Robinson. (Randy Holmes via Getty Images) JIMMY KIMMEL "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. EDT and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Thursday, October 3, included Danny DeVito ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), Bob Iger ("The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company"), and musical guest Anderson .Paak Feat. Smokey Robinson. (Randy Holmes via Getty Images) JIMMY KIMMELRandy Holmes—ABC via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 8, 2019 4:35 PM UTC When [Bill Gates](https://time.com/5694066/bill-gates-future-health/) retired from [Microsoft](https://time.com/5691217/microsoft-surface-neo-duo/) a few years back, [Jimmy Kimmel](https://time.com/5597527/jimmy-kimmel-can-you-read-a-clock/) was apparently called upon to participate in a final-day roast of the billionaire software tycoon. Unfortunately, Kimmel says the joke-fest didn’t go so well. During a Monday appearance on _The Howard Stern Show_, Kimmel explained that although he was led to believe that Gates was on board with the roast, he didn’t seem to find Kimmel’s routine funny in the slightest. “It was a disaster,” Kimmel told Stern. “I insisted that he be onstage with me if I was going to do this, because the key to a roast is the people in the audience see the roastee laughing. Well, unfortunately, the roastee was not laughing. Not even a little bit.” Kimmel went on to say that the only person in the room who laughed at his jokes was Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. “He was laughing like a maniac,” the late-night host recalled. “Which in a way made it worse.” By the end of the night, Kimmel said that Gates was referring to him simply as “the comedian.” “He was like, ‘We couldn’t get Jay Leno for this?'” Kimmel quipped. 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