ABC late-night host tapped for game show

LOS ANGELES -- Jimmy Kimmel is going to have to start setting his alarm a little earlier.

The comedian and host of ABC's late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" has picked up a prime-time gig: He'll be the host of the network's game show "Set for Life," which will premiere during the 2006-07 season.

Kimmel will continue to host "Live," which he shoots at 8 p.m. weeknights in Los Angeles, while taping episodes of "Set for Life" during the day. To hear him tell it, he's not thrilled with the arrangement.

"I tried to tell ABC that it is too difficult to do a talk show every night and an hour-long prime-time show too," he deadpans. "Unfortunately, there's a 75-year-old man named Regis who seems to have no problem with it."

Kimmel is not a stranger to game shows, having co-hosted "Win Ben Stein's Money" on Comedy Central in the late 1990s; he and Stein won a Daytime Emmy for best game show host in 1999. Andrea Wong, head of alternative programming for ABC, says Kimmel will bring "a unique voice to the show along with intelligence, great comedic talent, and an irreverence that's bound to make the experience memorable for the contestants and the audience."

"Set for Life," which comes from "Deal or No Deal" producer Endemol USA, will give players a chance to win a monthly payout for the rest of their lives, which could be a couple bucks or enough to retire. They won't know how much they won, though, until the end of the game.

ABC hasn't set a premiere date for "Set for Life," but taping begins next week, meaning the show would likely be available in the fall.