ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel welcomed Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz to his Monday show for a softball interview about his life and to offer him an opportunity to promote Kamala Harris while bashing Donald Trump and JD Vance.
A typical question Kimmel would ask was, “I do want to ask you about being the lunchroom supervisor. What does that entail? What are you watching for?”
Walz would quip that it is “preparation for Congress” before recalling the time he had to give a kid the Heimlich maneuver, but Kimmel had more biographical softballs, “You were the football coach, you were the Gay-Straight Alliance counselor. I mean, this is, were you popular with the students?”
For his part, Walz claimed to be popular enough to be routinely picked to play Santa Claus, but at least everyone knew he was just pretending in that instance. All of the other times Walz pretended to be someone else escaped Kimmel’s scrutiny.
In another school-related question, Kimmel wondered, “Would you go to the prom and watch and make sure the kids weren't touching each other too much?”
Walz replied that he and his wife built the prom sets as he and Kimmel marveled at how he went from that to vice presidential nominee. Speaking of getting the VP nod, Kimmel asked, “Why didn't we know you? Like, how did you get picked? Do you know how it happened?”
Republicans have criticized Walz for being a radical on plenty of things, from abortion to gender ideology to crime and public safety, but Walz tried to claim he’s called a radical because “we feed our kids breakfast and lunch at school.”
As for Harris, Walz added, “She is amazing. She makes me laugh. And I think it's a good thing, by the way. I think a president should know how to laugh, not at someone, but laugh with things, or whatever, so, and I like that.”
Kimmel then brought up his Oscars-related feud with Trump, “This guy who used to be president is a little sore with me for a joke I made. That wouldn't bother you? You don't get bothered by people making fun, comedians on Saturday Night Live! or whatever?”
Earlier in the show, Kimmel joked that, before their interview, Walz raked the leaves outside the studio. That is the kind of joke Walz gets, whereas Trump gets much nastier content, so Walz was easily able to say, “No, you started this. I taught school. The only thing, if you're going to do profanity, spell it correctly.”
Later, Kimmel turned to the recent VP debate, “You also have, I think, a very unique perspective on the school shootings and this horrible gun violence that is happening in our schools. During the debate, JD Vance suggested that we have stronger windows and stronger doors. As a teacher, what do you think when you hear? And what can we do about that?”
Walz got in on the old misrepresentation of a comment Vance made about the issue, “And their idea is to arm teachers. That is a very, very bad idea. Teachers are not like—don't want it. I just, like the vice president, I simply refuse to accept. Donald Trump tells us to get over it. JD Vance says, you know, ‘This is just a fact of life,’ or whatever. And we have to get to a point. I'm a hunter. I'm a veteran, pheasant season opens in Minnesota this week, I’m excited about that.”
Later still, after a game of “weird or not weird,” Kimmel wondered, “This has got to be weird. Bruce Springsteen made a lengthy video endorsing you on Friday. Did you know he was doing that?”
Walz claimed he did not, but claimed ‘“The River’ and changed my life. It was a religious experience.”
No liberal media interview with Walz can be complete without a discussion about food, as Kimmel wondered, “You are without a doubt the only vice presidential candidate in history for whom this would be an enticing way to raise funds… And people want your recipe. And have they been making your recipe?”
Walz replied, “They have. We're raising money off that recipe. A hot dish, all the food groups, tater tots, cream of mushroom soup, a protein, cheese. Spam is the protein that wins it.”
Here is a transcript for the October 7-taped show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
10/8/2024
12:00 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: I do want to ask you about being the lunchroom supervisor. What does that entail? What are you watching for?
TIM WALZ: Well, it's preparation for Congress, first of all. But you're taking the tickets from the kids, and then you're just making sure that everything is okay. And this is no good deed goes unpunished. One of my first years in there I went over to the freshmen table and they're getting kind of loud and I’m like “Fellas, calm down,” I look over, a kid’s got milk coming out of his mouth, turning kind of blue, I looked down, half a Polish dog there, I realize he’s choking on the Polish dog, so I grab him and I wondered if it always worked and it does, I gave him the Heimlich and I pop the Polish dog across the room.
I got lunchroom duty every year after that. That was what it was.
KIMMEL: You were the football coach, you were the Gay-Straight Alliance counselor. I mean, this is, were you popular with the students?
WALZ: I think so. I was-- they picked me to be Santa Claus. I think it was looks. So, I was Santa Claus every year. So, seems like okay.
KIMMEL: Would you go to the prom and watch and make sure the kids weren't touching each other too much?
WALZ: My wife and I built the proms.
KIMMEL: What do you mean?
WALZ: You have to build the set. So if it's, you know, under the sea or whatever, you build an undersea set. And we did a night in Paris, you build the Eiffel Tower. For me, my wife says "nothing in moderation." She says you couldn't just go vote and then you have to run for Congress and all this. So, we would build these elaborate proms and the sets together.
KIMMEL: That's so crazy. Now you're in this position. I would imagine for your wife, this must be something that you guys look at each other from time to time and go how did this happen.
WALZ: Yes. And she just shakes her head and says it's just the way it goes with us, I guess. We're both teachers. And you, just kind of throw yourselves into it. But I think Vice President Harris talks about this. It's the beauty of America. Truly, where could a girl from Oakland and middle class family, a single mom and a kid from Nebraska. And she says this to me. And look, we're running for president and vice president. It's something. That's America, though.
…
KIMMEL: Why didn't we know you? Like, how did you get picked? Do you know how it happened?
WALZ: Well, I certainly said I never planned my life to be here. But I think my life prepared me well. I think the vice president was looking. I'm very proud of what we've done in Minnesota. I ran and won a congressional seat in a very red district for 12 years and then governor of Minnesota. I think people watched. And we're doing things. I know the Republicans say they're super radical. Yeah, we feed our kids breakfast and lunch at school. It's a radical idea. And so, I think she saw that, and I think the one thing, and it's kind of, as all of us know in life, some things just meant to be by fate or whatever and we get along really well. And she is amazing. She makes me laugh. And I think it's a good thing, by the way. I think a president should know how to laugh, not at someone, but laugh with things, or whatever, so, and I like that.
KIMMEL: Yeah. Yeah –
WALZ: You might have thoughts on that.
KIMMEL: This guy who used to be president is a little sore with me for a joke I made. That wouldn't bother you? You don't get bothered by people making fun, comedians on Saturday Night Live! or whatever?
WALZ: No, you started this. I taught school. The only thing, if you're going to do profanity, spell it correctly, George. Write that on there, so—
KIMMEL: I think your school experience, it's so interesting because, you know, life is so much like school.
WALZ: Yes.
KIMMEL: In so many ways. Even just talking about tickets from students at lunch. Some of the students probably didn't have tickets.
WALZ: That's right. Every teacher who has done that job had another account where they just paid for them. That's just the way it worked, but we made the case in Minnesota why should we go through that? You don't have the kids come in and say “have you paid the heat bill at the school today” or “We just got new carpet, where’s your money for this?” or whatever, you go to school, take care of them and what we found is when you do school meals, guess what? More kids show up for school. They do better. You can't learn on an empty stomach and so—
KIMMEL: You also have, I think, a very unique perspective on the school shootings and this horrible gun violence that is happening in our schools. During the debate, JD Vance suggested that we have stronger windows and stronger doors. As a teacher, what do you think when you hear? And what can we do about that?
WALZ: And their idea is to arm teachers. That is a very, very bad idea. Teachers are not like — don't want it. I just, like the vice president, I simply refuse to accept. Donald Trump tells us to get over it. JD Vance says, you know, "this is just a fact of life," or whatever. And we have to get to a point. I'm a hunter. I'm a veteran, pheasant season opens in Minnesota this week, I’m excited about that.
You can pass common sense things, not infringe on the Second Amendment, but our first responsibility is those kids and I think listening to them make these things up, try and tell you and then pivot to like it's a mental health issue, trying to demonize people who are trying to get mental health, at the same, they’re cutting the funding for mental health care, we don't have to live this way. And I brought up in there, and he batted it down, countries that have just as much gun ownership as us, but common sense things in place, their children don't get shot in schools.
…
KIMMEL: You know what? I have a little quiz for you. Help us decide what is weird and what is not weird. Weird or not weird. Families wearing matching pajamas at Christmas time.
WALZ: Oh, not weird.
KIMMEL: Not weird. Wearing a shirt in the pool, weird or not weird?
WALZ: Not weird.
KIMMEL: People who ask you to take your shoes off in the house, is that weird or not weird?
WALZ: No, not weird either.
KIMMEL: Tofurkey.
WALZ: Oh, that's weird.
KIMMEL: I'm going to skip to the last one. A 60-year-old man drinking Diet Mountain Dew.
WALZ: That's just life right there.
KIMMEL: This has got to be weird. Bruce Springsteen made a lengthy video endorsing you on Friday. Did you know he was doing that?
WALZ: No, no. Those of you at 60-year-old, this is a high school kid who got “The River” and changed my life. It was a religious experience, Bruce Springsteen's “The River” and—
KIMMEL: When you say a high school kid you mean this high school kid? Look at that corduroy suit.
WALZ: No, didn't know it. To have Bruce say that and my daughter says “Bruce Springsteen knows your name” and that was the strangest thing.
KIMMEL: That's pretty crazy. Have you not met Bruce, yet?
WALZ: I have not met Bruce.
KIMMEL: Jimmy: Were you married in high school? What's going on here?
WALZ: That is a class ring.
KIMMEL: Oh, all right.
WALZ: Look at that hair, though. That's the thing I'm looking at.
KIMMEL: Yeah, that hair is spectacular. You are without a doubt the only vice presidential candidate in history for whom this would be an enticing way to raise funds.
WALZ: Oh, yeah.
KIMMEL: And people want your recipe. And have they been making your recipe?
WALZ: They have. We're raising money off that recipe.
KIMMEL: I know that.
WALZ: A hot dish, all the food groups, tater tots, cream of mushroom soup, a protein, cheese. Spam is the protein that wins it.
