Jimmy Kimmel made a major reveal in the first episode of the Strike Force Five podcast, the new strike-focused podcast the late night host recently launched alongside Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver.

Speaking to his fellow late night hosts, Kimmel revealed that he had been considering retiring from television around the time the writers strike began in May.

“I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started,” he said. “And now, I realize, ‘Oh yeah, it’s kind of nice to work.”

Meyers responded by joking that Kimmel was “the Tom Brady of late night,” suggesting he has “feigned retirement” before.

“I was serious, I was very, very serious,” Kimmel claimed.

This news comes as a surprise considering Kimmel extended his contract in 2022 just as it was set to expire. Kimmel announced in September 2022 he would be staying on as host for at least three more years through the show’s 23rd season, continuing his run of almost two decades.

“After two decades at ABC, I am now looking forward to three years of what they call ‘quiet quitting,’” he said in a statement at the time, per Variety.

But the WGA strike has put all late night television on hold as writers have taken to the picket lines after the AMPTP failed to meet their demands for fairer wages and protections against AI.

All proceeds made from the podcast will go to the staff and crew on each of their shows – Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night With Seth Meyers – who have been out of work since the WGA strike began in early May.

On the podcast, Colbert shared that he’s been approached by people who have asked him if he’s “enjoying the vacation.”

“I usually say, ‘This is like a vacation in the same way a colonoscopy is like a nap,'” he said.

The Strike Force Five podcast is set to run for at least 12 episodes, though Kimmel tweeted that they plan to produce episodes “for the remainder of the strike.”

Spotify announced the new podcast in a press release, stating, “This past May, the hosts of five major late-night talk shows had an idea: to meet every week to discuss the complexities behind the ongoing Hollywood strikes. What ensued was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations.”

The first episode of Strike Force Five is now streaming on Spotify and all major podcast platforms.