Watch: NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani's standing ovation leaves Jimmy Kimmel joking about LA

Dubai: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani walked onto the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week to a reception usually saved for rock stars.

The audience rose to its feet, cheering and applauding. The noise carried on well after he had taken his seat.

"I think this means you're doing a good job," Kimmel told him.

The late-night host then added a joke about his own city: "I live in Los Angeles, and that is not the reception our mayor would get."

The episode was taped on Monday, September 28, and aired that night in the US, which was Tuesday morning in the UAE. It was the first of a week of shows Kimmel is filming in Brooklyn, where he was born and spent his early years.

According to Variety, the show received more than 150,000 ticket requests for the week. Pete Davidson also appeared on Monday's episode, and later guests include Paul McCartney and Billy Crystal.

For Mamdani, the booking had some history behind it. During his 2025 mayoral campaign, he pulled out of a planned town hall with WABC-TV, ABC's New York station, in protest at Disney and ABC's decision to temporarily take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air. He agreed to take part once Kimmel was reinstated.

Kimmel opened the segment with a montage of mostly conservative commentators predicting before the election that a Mamdani win would ruin New York. The clips included warnings that the city would become "lawless" and "hell on Earth".

He then welcomed his guest as "the end of New York as we know it".

"How is the complete and total destruction of New York going?" Kimmel asked.

Mamdani kept a straight face. "You know, it's proceeding as planned," he replied.

The mayor also talked about some of his ideas for the city, including a "Parents Night Out" programme and plans for a city-run grocery store.

Much of the conversation turned to Mamdani's relationship with US President Donald Trump, which has been more cordial than many expected.

Kimmel played a clip of the two men at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence, where Mamdani stood stony-faced beside Trump during a speech. Kimmel then asked whether the pair really text each other.

"From time to time we're in communication," Mamdani said, adding that their messages had covered Sunnyside Yard and other issues affecting New Yorkers.

Kimmel pushed his luck. He asked whether Mamdani would send the president a selfie of the two of them.

"Jimmy, I love you, but I love housing more," the mayor said. He was referring to the Sunnyside Yard housing project in Queens, which he announced alongside Trump after their meeting at Gracie Mansion.

Mamdani was elected on November 4, 2025 and sworn in on January 1 this year. He became the city's first Muslim mayor, its first mayor of South Asian descent and its first mayor born in Africa.

Housing affordability has been the centre of his agenda. In June, the city's Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 to freeze rents on both one-year and two-year leases for about one million rent-stabilised apartments. It was the first freeze ever applied to two-year leases, and it covers leases starting on or after October 1.

His administration has also faced pressure over antisemitism. Jewish Insider reported earlier this month that his long-promised plan to tackle the issue had missed its original Rosh Hashanah deadline.

This week, he announced new measures, including doubling hate crime prevention funding and $1 million (about Dh3.67 million) to strengthen security at synagogues and other places of worship. His office will also encourage more teaching in public schools about the Holocaust and about Jewish contributions to New York. New York police figures show antisemitic incidents rose by 182 per cent between January 2025 and January 2026.

"Let me be clear: my administration has zero tolerance for antisemitism. Not on our subways. Not in our workplaces. Not online. Not anywhere," Mamdani said.