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Jimmy Kimmel Shows Up for Eric Garcetti's Last Meeting as L.A. City Council Prez, Turns It Into a Roast
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Today was Eric Garcetti's last meeting as L.A. City Council President. He's stepping down from the position, so he can prepare for his mayoral bid. But today's meeting turned into what the City Maven called a "long, awkward goodbye." Comedian Jimmy Kimmel showed up and got things rolling.
Kimmel got to know Garcetti as a councilman, because his show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is shot on Hollywood Boulevard in his district. Street performers nearby had complained police were harassing them, and Kimmel praised Garcetti for creating a task force to deal with the issue and doing his research.
“He even went undercover as Wonder Woman," Kimmel said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Kimmel added: "It really impressed me that everyone seems to like this guy and it's easy to understand why everyone likes him — because he cares, he's a wonderful piano player, he's a very tender lover. Was I not suppose to mention that?"
The roast didn't stop with Kimmel. Councilman Mitch Englander said Garcetti had helped him transition into his leadership role, and that his word was as good as gold with one exception: "The only promise that Eric has not stood up to, to me so far, was that he promised to give me a photo of him in his Navy uniform for my wallet. I haven't gotten that yet."
The last joke by Councilwoman Jan Perry came at the expense of Dennis Zine. She said that her greatest challenge working with Garcetti was trying to wrangle Zine: "Many times I also felt that we were mother and father to Dennis and that we had a child we never expected to have, and that he presented many challenges for us. He has grown to be much more diplomatic and much more articulate and much more grounded in policy-making and doing his homework.”
Perry, who is also running for mayor in 2013, had nothing but nice things to say about Garcetti as he stepped down: “Even though we are competitors in another race, I couldn’t imagine having a more decent person to compete with."
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