Now Kimmel talks up Detroit; all is forgiven

He has regrets, but can he bring down the house?

Susan Whitall / The Detroit News

Jimmy Kimmel is sorry. He's really, really sorry he said those mean things about Detroit burning the city down if the Pistons won in 2004.

But taping from the Gem Theatre in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, the always snarky wise guy still managed to get in a little zinger at another Motor City gem.

"I forgot there was a Super Bowl going on, and I booked my room too late," said Kimmel of ABC TV's late-night "Jimmy Kimmel Live." "But it's OK. I'm staying in Aretha Franklin's bra."

Kimmel kicked off his first night of taping in Detroit with guests (and Detroit native) David Alan Grier, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and Detroit ambassador par excellence, Kid Rock.

Kimmel showed a film in which a cigar-smoking Rock, aka Robert James Ritchie, drove Kimmel in a taxicab around Detroit, where they shot pool, ate coney dogs at downtown's American Coney Island ("The greatest restaurant in all of Detroit," promised Rock), the strip bar Trumpps on 8 Mile and three sites where Kid Rock claimed to have lost his virginity.

Seriously, though. Kimmel did make a point of saying how welcome everyone in Detroit has made him feel.

"I think the weather here is so warm right now, because the people are warm," Kimmel said, as the audience cooed, "Awwwww."

"Everyone has been so nice to me, it feels like I'm being punk'd. I expect Ashton Kutcher to be behind a door somewhere. I feel like Jerome Bettis."

But not entirely like the Detroit-born Bettis.

Kimmel ran a WDIV-TV Local 4 clip of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick giving Bettis a key to the city and saying, "It's not everyone who gets a key to the city of Detroit. Jimmy Kimmel wanted a key to the city, but we said no."

Kimmel grilled comedian Grier on whether he was really a Detroit native.

"I'm from the real Detroit," said Grier, who starred in TV shows "In Living Colour" and "DAG." "A lot of people say they're from Detroit, but they're really from Troy or Southfield or Downriver."

Grier tapped his chest. "Fenkell bus. Fenkell bus!" referring to the bus line near his neighborhood.

Before the show,Red Wingsanthem singer Karen Newman said, "He (Kid Rock) is going to do something tonight he's never done before."

What that turned out to be was performing with the eight members of the Pistons drumline (and backup singers Newman and Detroit R&B singer Thornetta Davis).

"It's going to be amazing," Todd Ohme, 29, of St. Joseph said before the drumline, wearing black "Made in Detroit" T-shirts, went on stage to perform "Bawitdaba," and "Welcome 2 the Party," from Kid Rock's 1998 "Devil Without a Cause" album. The studio audience went wild when Rock, also wearing a black "Made in Detroit" tank top, performed "Welcome 2 the Party," rapping and then scratching on a turntable.

Afterward, the members of the drumline were sweating -- and beaming.

"It was very very cool," said Larry Allswede, 22, of Lansing. "I've always wanted to do something like this, and now it's finally happened. It's about time."

Rock told Kimmel the cover of his newest album, "Live Trucker," (on sale Feb. 28) looks exactly like the cover of Bob Seger's 1976 "Live Bullet" as a tribute to what he called "the best rock and roll record ever recorded," the much-loved album Seger recorded at Cobo Hall in 1975.

There were glitches in the first night's taping. Several hundred annoyed people outside the Gem who had signed up for Kimmel tickets and been approved via the Web site 1iota.com did not get in.

Matt Caruana, 27, of Royal Oak waited in line for more than two hours to see the Kimmel taping but was left out in the cold. He was finally told at 6:50 p.m. that the theater was full.

Caruana had gotten tickets through 1iota.com, which disburses tickets to live tapings of television shows.

"I'm pretty bummed out," said Caruana, who was in a line of what he estimates as more than 200 people who weren't admitted. I know some people wouldn't get in, but I thought if I was there that early I'd have no problem getting in."

Of course, on the 1iota.com ticket voucher a disclaimer reads "E-tickets are in excess of capacity; therefore, an e-ticket may not guarantee admittance."

What brings Kimmel to Detroit this week is, quite simply, remorse over the reaction to his trashing of the city back in 2004, during the NBA finals.

It was during the halftime show of Game 2, when ABC Sports' Mike Tirico asked Kimmel who he wanted to win. Kimmel said: "Besides the fact that I'm a Lakers fan, I realize they're going to burn the city of Detroit down if the Pistons win."

Ouch. Tirico, who lives in Ann Arbor, objected to the remark, but Kimmel didn't apologize until a firestorm of protest erupted. Since then, he's made many more.

Kimmel will continue taping at the Gem at 7 every evening through Friday. The show airs earlier this week only in Metro Detroit, at 11:35 p.m.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" director Bobcat Goldthwait said he was really pleased with the taping, the first time in his 14-month tenure as director the show has shot on location.

Goldthwait says he's always meshed with Kimmel ("He and I have known each other for a million years"), but was surprised he got along with Kid Rock so well.

"He likes to wear (expletive)-up hats and smoke cigars and so do I," said Goldthwait.

Tonight's Kimmel guests include actors David Spade and Rob Schneider, and on Thursday Kimmel hosts comedian Tom Arnold. The Four Tops will appear on the show Friday night, along with actress Jessica Alba. Kimmel also dropped the tantalizing, if it's true, nugget that Eminem will make a guest appearance this week.

Detroit News Staff Writers Adam Graham and Kara Morrison contributed to this report. You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@detnews.com.