NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Kevin Harvick appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night with the championship trophy. Harvick said of celebrating his first championship, “The celebration was pretty good this year. We’re fortunate to have a sponsor like Budweiser who has a great beverage to start celebrations with and to end celebrations with.” Host Jimmy Kimmel added, “If M&Ms is your sponsor it’s not that much fun.” Harvick added, “Budweiser and Jimmy Johns make a great partner. We went through 80 cases of beer after the race.” Harvick said of the new Chase format, “We all know how it works now but I don’t think any of us really knew what was going to happen. In the end, the intensity level was way up from what we had in the past. ... Winning was your golden ticket to advance to the Chase, to advance through the rounds of the Chase. … It definitely made it more interesting, especially to the casual fan” (“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 12/1).
Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert addressed the protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, noting, “It's not enough that they destroyed Ferguson. These protests have spread to what Americans hold most sacred: football.” Colbert said of five Rams players making a "don't shoot" gesture: “Well, that is just wrong. Why would anyone surrender to the Raiders?” Colbert echoed what the St. Louis Police Officers Association stated, saying it was “'tasteless and offensive' to see this at an NFL game, which reminds me: Welcome back, Ray Rice. We've missed you. The cops are right. You have to stop that kind of offensive gesture before it spreads. I mean during the game I saw referees do it a bunch of times” (“The Colbert Report,” Comedy Central, 12/1).
NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “There are reports that Vladimir Putin bribed a soccer official with a Picasso painting so he would support Russia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.” Fallon said in a fake Russian accent, “Yeah, Putin was like, ‘It wasn’t Picasso. Just picture of what his face would look like if he said no. Eye down here, nose up here’” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 12/1).
