Gavin Newsom faces TV doppelganger, takes home wildest trophy on Jimmy Kimmel

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: For a few minutes on Tuesday, March 3 night, California Governor Gavin Newsom wasn’t just promoting memoir 'Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery', he was the straight man in a full-blown comedy sketch about himself.

When Newsom appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to talk about his new book, the interview took an unexpected turn.

Just as the conversation wrapped, a second “Governor Newsom” rolled onto the stage on a skateboard, smirking, self-important and aggressively Californian.

The man behind the stunt was comedian Josh Meyers, who regularly spoofs the governor on the show.

What followed wasn’t a simple cameo. It was an elaborate parody ceremony that turned the real governor into the supporting character in his own satire.

Gavin Newsom honors himself!

Meyers’ version of Newsom announced he had just come from “a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a shelter for non-binary chihuahuas,” immediately setting the tone. Then came the “award.”

In a long, theatrical speech, the fake governor praised the real one for uniting Californians “from the meth dealers of Riverside to the shapely Armenians of the Glendale Galleria, from chakra doulas and yoga thems to farmer’s market furries.”

The trophy itself was enormous and intentionally ridiculous, dubbed the “2026 FIFA Skydance Paramount Netflix Warner Bros. Big Ass Lipton Cup O Peace.”

According to Meyers, it was “plated with platinum that was ethically sourced from all my expired AMEX cards” and large enough to hold “an entire magnum of sauv blanc.” He filled it on stage.

Instead of resisting the caricature, the real governor embraced it. Newsom accepted the mock honor with exaggerated gratitude.

“This was long overdue,” he joked, before adding, “Does this come with a third term?”

When host Jimmy Kimmel asked what he planned to do with the giant cup, Newsom turned to his impersonator and asked, “What are we going to do with it?”

Meyers shot back instantly: “I’ll help you load it into your Prius.”

The two “Newsoms” then drank from the oversized chalice using paper straws.

Gavin Newsom takes a dig at Trump

But the sketch didn’t end purely as comedy. Looking toward the camera, Newsom pivoted to national politics. “Where’s Trump? You know, this is back to Trump,” he said, before delivering the closing line: “Eat your heart out, Donald!”

The audience roared. What began as a book promotion stop turned into a subtle political comedy.

The humor continued when Newsom recalled what he described as his “interesting calls” with Donald Trump.

“You in the book talk about some phone calls, some strange, unusual phone calls that you got from Donald Trump. Can you share those?” Kimmel asked.

“I’ve had many interesting calls,” Newsom began. “The last time I called him was right before he federalized the National Guard here. 4,000 of our National Guard were federalized.”

He said the night before that move, he received a late call from Trump.

“It was about 10:30 my time, 1:30 his time. And he goes, ‘Hey, Gavin, Gavin, what do you think of New Scum? What do you think of New Scum?’ It’s his nickname for me,” Newsom recounted. 

He also shared a more personal anecdote from his inauguration. During his speech, his then three-year-old son ran onto the stage and fell asleep in his arms.

“Trump calls me the next day,” Newsom said. “And said, ‘I saw that.’ I thought it was going to be a positive conversation. But he goes, ‘Melania is upset.’ I said, ‘Melania is upset? What about?’ He goes, ‘Well, you said some pretty harsh things about me.’”

“He was hurt. Let me just say this. It’s just interesting,” Newsom said.

Kimmel joked, “There’s no way Melania was upset. She probably wrote that stuff.” Newsom laughed but insisted, “No doubt about it.”