Why Jimmy Kimmel’s Brand You Is Made of Them

Want to know “Why Jimmy Kimmel’s Brand You Is Made of Them?” 

And by “them,” I don’t mean the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Jimmy served to Emmy guests on Sunday. Although, it speaks to the topic perfectly, due to the made-by-mom label.

Cousin Sal and Aunt Chippy, and the recurring high jinx of cousin Guillermo, faithful sidekick, along with Jimmy’s mom and others, are all a part of the Kimmel character we know and love.

And, though he’s gone now, who can forget dear, beyond funny, Uncle Frank?

Jimmy Kimmel’s Brand

And while comedians often use their life and family as comic fodder, Jimmy Kimmel takes it one step further.

I think Kimmel sees life as funny, and lets face it, that probably starts at home. Some funny is drawn from sad, even tragic, but I feel like humor resided in the Kimmel home. Did it, Jimmy?

I know humor runs in some families. In my family, we have a fatal character flaw in that we all think we’re funny. Now I’m married to a guy and he thinks he’s funny, too. I guess a life filled with funny is something Jimmy and I share.

Laughing everyday is good!

Bring Your Family to Work

But Jimmy’s family funny transformed to so much more. It’s an integral part of his brand. Yep.

He finds a way to share the running family funny—for as long as I can remember—making show clips and entire series of skits around the “characters” of his life.

We laugh because we know some of those very characters and sit with them around our Thanksgiving table or at Weddings.

We relate because we are the same regular people as them, when he immerses them into celebrity events and situations of all kinds, leading to funny, without fail. And, we like Jimmy, too, because he hasn’t left his family in the dust as he takes on his star-filled life.

It makes him seem more grounded.

And more like us—less star-like and more everyman—and people like the regular guy feel Jimmy exudes by embracing those same, you know, the them people we are all stuck with. Family.

And yet Jimmy is star-circled—who else has Matt Damon patiently waiting to be on the show night after night? Who else gets surprise visits in bed from, like, Rihanna?

Still, while floating among the stars in Hollywood orbit, Jimmy’s core brand stands firmly on planet earth. It’s grounded by where he comes from, and who he is all along.

Always a funny perspective, of course, but with a frequently family twist, making Jimmy Kimmel’s brand highly relatable.

The important lesson, maybe, as we each go about building BRAND YOU for ourselves, is that we all have some them in us. And they have a lot to do with who each of us are, personally and professionally.