MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell made his triumphant return to Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night comedy program on Tuesday evening.
But given that he appeared from within the confines of an arcade claw machine, it was ultimately even more demoralizing than the first time around.
“To help him overcome his debilitating fear of machines, we have installed him inside a claw machine,” Kimmel quipped as he opened the segment. “I don’t know why I decided you should be in there,” he added before stating he was surprised that Lindell took him up on the unique offer.
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The jokes at Lindell’s expense only kept rolling from there as Kimmel wondered aloud why people don’t take him seriously.
The late-night host asked Lindell why he only came away with four Republican National Committee votes despite for months touting he was “ahead of every single poll” to become the new chairperson of the influential Republican Party operation.
“Do you believe this was a rigged election, too?” Kimmel asked.
Lindell responded that he didn’t believe such was the case, stating “‘cause there [were] no machines involved,” which led to Kimmel quipping: “So you would have lost either way, is what you’re saying?”
“You distrust machines,” Kimmel continued, before asking: “Does that extend to sewing machines...what about ice machines?”
The pair discussed Lindell’s continued, unverified accusations of rigged voting machines before actor James Adomian then burst onto the scene playing the role of Lindell, to the real-life pillow maven’s delight.
“What type of dark magic is at play,” Adomian yelled in shock when he saw the real-life Lindell inside the claw machine. “Don’t worry you, you sweet boy, I got a pillowcase full of quarters right here!”
Even before Lindell’s appearance got off the ground, Kimmel was cracking one liners.
“All the way from whatever planet he came from, Mr. My Pillow, Mike Lindell is here to finally answer the question, ‘What if Ted Lasso was on the FBI watchlist?’” Kimmel said in his late-night monologue Tuesday night. He explained to the audience and viewers at home that he only agreed to have Lindell back on his show as a guest if he “agreed to do the interview from inside a Dave & Buster’s claw machine.”
And while Lindell has been telling anyone who will listen that Kimmel wants him in a glass cage because of his COVID-19 vaccination status, Kimmel said, “I did not insist that Mike be in a claw machine because he’s not vaccinated. I insisted he be in a claw machine because it's hilarious,” adding, “This isn’t a political statement. This is just for fun.”
Yet, Kimmel, on a previous show, did say: “We have a policy here, if you’re not vaccinated, you can’t come in our building.”
Following publication, Lindell told The Daily Beast that contrary to Kimmel’s earlier statement, he and his girlfriend were allowed to enter Kimmel’s building. Lindell additionally accused Kimmel of lying on air about why he was placed in the claw game. “He tried to change that in his show and make me look like I made that up,” Lindell told The Daily Beast. “I was told that [going into the claw game] was the only way I could get on his show.”
Ahead of the late-night show on Tuesday night, the pillow executive took to Facebook and joked that the Dave & Buster’s claw machine might be “rigged.”
“Maybe I’ll find out that that claw game was rigged, huh, the one that picks up the stuffed animals,” he said, hinting at his non-stop boasting of baseless 2020 election fraud.
Before his late-night appearance, on Monday night, in a phone interview with The Daily Beast, Lindell admitted that his second time around would most likely be a “humiliating” experience for him.
“I am willing to be humiliated to help save our country,” he declared.
Since making his first cameo on Kimmel in April 2021, the pillow tycoon has become fixated on returning to the show, all with the hope that he could convince viewers that his conspiracy theories should lead to Donald Trump being re-installed as president.
However, the biggest humiliation may have come at the end of the interview that preceded Lindell’s when Kimmel asked his first guest, Pamela Anderson, if she’d ever met the MyPillow CEO.
“I don’t even know who that is,” she replied.
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