Brooklyn gives Jimmy Kimmel an unusually energetic backdrop, and he immediately turns the trip into material about storm preparations, flooding and his Los Angeles crew panic-buying rain gear. The opening is loose and locally focused, bouncing from kayaks in Howard Beach to portable toilets at MetLife Stadium before landing a solid Jets joke. It is conventional late-night monologue territory, but the combination of location-specific references and an enthusiastic theater audience gives the material more momentum than a standard studio opening.
Guillermo’s remote appearance provides the first sustained bit, built around his improbable survival on Dancing with the Stars despite repeatedly receiving low scores. Kimmel’s comparison of him to Mr. Magoo and a “human Air Bud” effectively sells the joke that audience voting has become more important than dancing ability, while Guillermo’s difficulty hearing Kimmel creates some accidental comedy of its own. The segment is affectionate rather than elaborate, though the repeated appeals for votes stretch the premise longer than necessary.
Sports material works better once the monologue reaches Giants quarterback Jameis Winston and the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Winston’s enthusiastic postgame arithmetic gives Kimmel an easy punch line, but the standout is Matt Damon suddenly appearing as the Red Sox fan Kimmel wants expelled. Their long-running mock hostility needs little setup, and Damon escalating the confrontation by claiming to be attending with Kimmel’s mother and sister gives the cameo a clear comic progression rather than reducing it to a celebrity appearance for its own sake.
The political section pivots to Donald Trump by contrasting clips of his 2016 criticism of expensive state dinners with the program’s claim that he recently hosted a lavish dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Within the material presented, the old remarks provide a direct setup for an accusation of inconsistency, but the segment does not independently document the newer event, its cost, guest list or surrounding diplomatic circumstances. Kimmel is pursuing a hypocrisy joke rather than offering political analysis, so viewers are given a sharp juxtaposition but little context with which to assess how closely the situations actually compare.
A similar limitation appears when Kimmel introduces New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and states that roughly 200,000 potholes have been repaired during his approximately nine months in office. That statistic is simply asserted before the program moves into comedy, without sourcing or explanation of what constitutes a repair, how the number compares with previous administrations or whether the mayor can reasonably be credited for the total. Fortunately, the sketch that follows does not depend heavily on accepting the statistic because it quickly abandons reality for an absurd premise: city workers supposedly exist to install potholes rather than repair them.
Jon Hamm commits fully to that premise as an aggrieved municipal worker who believes functional infrastructure is destroying New York’s character. The escalating inventions—the MTA urine distribution task force, imported Norwegian rats and carefully handcrafted potholes—turn familiar complaints about urban dysfunction into deliberate civic services. Hamm’s increasingly passionate defense of filthy, dangerous and unaffordable New York gives the sketch its strongest comic identity, especially because he plays the ridiculous argument with total conviction rather than winking at it.
The overall show is at its best when recognizable personalities are given room to carry extended jokes. Damon’s ambush and Hamm’s escalating rant are substantially more memorable than several of the topical one-liners, while the political material occasionally substitutes a punchy premise for enough supporting context to evaluate the underlying factual claims. Even so, the Brooklyn audience, local references and willingness to interrupt the normal monologue format keep the pacing lively and produce two strong celebrity-driven payoffs.
Pros
- Matt Damon’s surprise appearance turns the Yankees-Red Sox setup into an effectively escalating continuation of his comic feud with Kimmel.
- Jon Hamm’s committed performance gives the deliberately absurd pothole premise enough conviction to sustain an extended sketch.
- New York-specific storm, sports and infrastructure material makes good use of the Brooklyn setting.
- Guillermo’s unlikely Dancing with the Stars survival provides an affectionate recurring storyline and several effective jokes.
- The program varies its presentation with remote interaction, clips, a celebrity interruption and a full staged sketch rather than relying entirely on monologue jokes.
Cons
- Political and municipal factual claims are presented without enough sourcing or context for viewers to evaluate them independently.
- The state-dinner comparison is structured primarily for a hypocrisy punch line and does not examine potentially relevant differences between the events being contrasted.
- Guillermo’s voting appeal runs somewhat longer than its central joke requires.
- Some early storm and sports one-liners are considerably less distinctive than the Damon and Hamm segments that follow.
Damon’s combative cameo and Hamm’s increasingly deranged defense of dysfunctional New York elevate an otherwise familiar collection of late-night topical jokes. The political material would benefit from more factual context, but the Brooklyn setting, varied staging and committed guest performances make the comedy consistently lively and occasionally excellent.
