Country Music News

Maren Morris tackles late-night TV guest hosting of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

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Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images

Hitmaker Maren Morris tested her hosting chops on Monday, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel on his ABC late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!

“The Bones” singer opened by joking, “I flew all the way from Nashville to be here tonight — I came here on Delta, and hopefully I’m not coming back with delta,” referring to the COVID-19 variant.

“Now some people have said, ‘Maren, you’re a country singer. What business do you have hosting a late-night comedy show?'” Maren continued. “And to them I say, ‘Mom, get out of my dressing room!'”

Morris, 31, also noted that she was right across the street from where she auditioned for American Idol when she was 17 and “didn’t even make it past the first round.”

“But I stuck with it,” she continued, “and ten years later I won a Grammy.”

Maren also filled us in on how she’s been coping with the pandemic, admitting the past year has been “stressful,” mostly because “when I wear a mask, my name sounds like ‘Karen.'”

The country superstar also shared that she’d “spent the whole pandemic in quarantine with an infant, so basically, this next hour is a vacation for me.”

“I don’t care how much you cry, will not be breastfeeding any of you,” she warned the studio audience.

Morris also revealed that she’d “spent the weekend doing some research,” on the different laws regarding the legal use of marijuana in various states, which she turned into a song, which included lines such as “California’s down with doobies, from Oakland to Hollyweed/and in Washington and Oregon it’s cool to spark that green.”

Later, Maren chatted with country icon and fellow Texas native Willie Nelson and Hacks actress Megan Stalter. The show featured a performance by Gabriels, fronted by singer Jacob Lusk.

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