A man’s man

Kimberley McGee

Friday, July 6, 2001 | 4:59 a.m.

He brings men what they want.

On a recent weeknight comedian Jimmy Kimmel was cruising toward home on a Burbank, Calif., road in a convertible Mercedes with packaged hamburger meat and ham at his side.

"I'm making meatballs for a friend of mine who's an executive producer," Kimmel said. "It's his birthday."

Who knew?

As the other half of the sometimes-raunchy duo on "The Man Show" on Comedy Central (Cox cable channel 74), which also stars Adam Carolla, Kimmel doesn't often get a chance to show his sensitive side.

"The Man Show," which recently began its third season, combines an unapologetic insight into a man's sense of humor with skits about flatulence, man-on-the-street interviews and hidden-camera antics. The show ends with well-endowed women, called the Juggy Dance Squad, jumping on trampolines.

It doesn't get any better than that, Kimmel said.

But family and friends are important to the 33-year-old who grew up in Las Vegas. Although Kimmel, a Kenny Guinn Junior High School and Clark High School graduate, giggles over body noises and pratfalls for a living, he takes time for his wife of 13 years, Gina, and their two children, Kevin and Katie.

He recently discussed his strong family bonds, Oprah Winfrey and a few tawdry topics with the Las Vegas Sun:

Las Vegas Sun: What new segments have been added to "The Man Show" for its third season?

Jimmy Kimmel: We have an oompah band on the set. I think it gives it more of a beer-hall atmosphere rather than the strip-club atmosphere we had last year in the studio audience. It calms people down a little bit. (The audience members) come to the show like it is the seventh game of the Stanley Cup playoffs or something. They are screaming and yelling and sometimes it's hard to do jokes. We like them to settle down a little and listen to what we are saying.

Sun: How has the audience been rowdy?

JK: We've had to have the security (protect) the Juggies. They yell things out. They vomit. You name it. It's pretty crazy. We serve beer on the set and people come already drunk. It makes for a potent combination.

Sun: What is the purpose of "The Man Show?"

JK: "The Man Show" has no purpose other than it is to entertain men. TV pretends it has a purpose. Oprah pretends she has a purpose. She really believes she is doing God's work. Meanwhile she is raking in $350 million dollars from God's work, and God isn't getting any of that money, by the way. She is fooling herself if she is thinking she is doing God's work. The truth is she is giving unemployed women another reason to sit on their (rear ends) for an hour.

Sun: Does the show glorify or make fun of men?

JK: It does both. I don't know that it glorifies men, but we are just enjoying ourselves. I think of Charlton Heston when I think of glorifying men, or men rubbed up with body bronzer. We are really there to have a good time. That's our goal.

Sun: What's your favorite skit on the show?

JK: We did a fun one for the premier of the show. We went to the sperm bank. That's really fun because you get to masturbate on a television show. Masturbating is fun. It's something that people are so ashamed of. They claim they don't do it but we are actually doing it on television.

Sun: So you get to break rules on the show.

JK: It's not our goal, but it winds up happening. We are just trying to make people laugh for a half hour. We don't have any delusions about the show's importance.

Sun: How has your upbringing in Las Vegas affected the show?

JK: The set looks like Las Vegas. That's my Las Vegas influence. I love Las Vegas. I consider it my hometown. It's funny, when you move away from Vegas, people can't believe you grew up there. It is a conversation piece. I really miss Vegas the most when I hear those two horrible words, "Last call."

I have some good memories. When I was a kid I remember seeing Liberace buying meat at the Mayfair market. He had a hair net on. And Sammy Davis Jr. buying clothes in the little boy's section at Saks Fifth Avenue.

All my old friends still live there and I still know all my old neighbors from the block. We had a lot of fun there. We'd go out for the $2 steak dinners at the Horseshoe and the 50-cent shrimp cocktails downtown, which are the most disgusting thing you can eat, but we'd eat nine or 10 of them. Sun: Do you get recognized now?

JK: Yeah. I have to go buy parsley for the meatballs. That's going to be horrible. I hate the supermarket. I get recognized, sure. But even more than for "The Man Show" is the Fox Sports thing I do. I do football picks on the Fox pre-NFL game show. Pretty much everybody knows all these things I do, but I noticed when I got on that, it really multiplied exponentially. A lot of people knew me but they didn't know my name. Now they all know.

Sun: What are your plans for the future?

JK: My partner, Adam, and I are going to do a movie with Ivan Reitman. Hopefully we will shoot it in the fall. We play high school teachers that something terrible happens to.

Sun: How long can "The Man Show" continue?

JK: As long as men have penises, we will go on.