Jimmy Kimmel Drives His Wife Crazy with Artsy-Fartsy Pancakes

His daughter, on the other hand, seems to be a pretty big fan.

By Ethan L. Johns
March 02, 2018

Image: Randy Holmes via Getty Images

There are morning people, and then there is Jimmy Kimmel, who takes breakfast routine to a completely different level. Conversely, there are not-morning people, and then there is Molly McNearney—Jimmy Kimmel’s wife and writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!—who is driven so mad by Jimmy Kimmel’s morning person-ness, that she wrote a nearly 700-word essay about it.

If you follow Kimmel’s social media accounts, odds are you’ve noticed that he seems to be a loving father. He makes mean pancakes for his daughter, in artistic forms ranging from Halloween ghosts and pumpkins to the Cars 3 creation pictured below.

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Those same designs that delight his daughter Jane, 3, are making his wife Molly’s life a living hell.

In the essay, published by the Washington Post and titled, “The adorable pancakes my husband, Jimmy Kimmel, cooks for our kids are making my life hell,” McNearney recounts the origin story of Kimmel’s aggressively cute breakfasts, which started with Valentine’s Day hearts and quickly evolved.

“You may know my husband, Jimmy Kimmel, at night,” she writes. “But I know him in the morning, and he’s annoying. Really annoying. And not in a typical way. Oh no. Never typical. He’s annoying in a highly productive, quietly creative, intensely aggravating way.”

The perfect, hand-drawn, no-stencil pancakes made her happy “the first dozen times,” but as Jane started to expect magical works of breakfast art, McNearney—a mom, working full time—was left feeling “inadequate” as she tried to serve cereal and milk.

How the man finds the time and energy to get up early and make art, she doesn’t know—and neither do we. But we sure are impressed. For now, we’ll stick to these tried-and-true regular pancakes and let the pancake robot make funky designs for us.

McNearney’s essay can be read in full here.

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About Ethan L. Johns

Ethan is the Food News Writer at Genius Kitchen. An expert on the Parisian bistrot, he likes bitters and salted butters, and is no fan of dessert unless it's made with fruit. His hobbies include reading up on the history of borscht and attempting to roll perfect couscous by hand. Twits & Instagram @EthanLJohns