Jimmy Kimmel all set for the Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel promises he's taking his new gig as host of the Feb. 26 Academy Awards very seriously, indeed.

It's an honor to be chosen, Kimmel tells USA Today.

"When you look at the list of people who have been asked to do it, it makes you feel pretty good," said Kimmel, who hosts ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.

"Comedy is not like sports, in that you can win the Super Bowl or be MVP of a league, so to be asked to do the Oscars is definitely something I'm sure I'll tell my grandchildren about on an endless loop."

Kimmel, who also hosted the Emmys this year, is still figuring out what he'll do. "I don't want to ruin anything, but I don't really know what I'm going to do yet. I'm still in the weighing-out-100-ideas phase and seeing if the ideas are practical," he says.

Kimmel said the election of Donald Trump will most likely be one of the big topics that night. "You sit down for dinner and that is the subject that inevitably comes up," he says. "I'm sure it will rear its head somehow in the Oscars broadcast."

NBC confirmed Wednesday that it's reuniting that dread team of comic actors, Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes for a 10-episode revival of Will & Grace. Created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, who are also slated to return, the sitcom ran from 1998 to 2006 and is credited as the first network prime-time show to have openly gay characters as its leads.

. . . in Patrick Stewart's distinguished career?

Nah, it wasn't his Macbeth, which won him a Tony in 2008, or his twofer as The Ghost and Claudius in 2009's Hamlet. Nor was it his turn as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in that Jacobean drama Star Trek: TNG. His greatest role comes later this year as the Poop Emoji in Sony Animation's The Emoji Movie. Tony Leondis' "app-venture" will costar T.J. Miller (Gene), James Corden (Hi-5), and Ilana Glazer (Jailbreak).

tirdad@phillynews.com

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