At ABC’s upfront, Jimmy Kimmel takes aim at Rupert Murdoch and Fox ratings

New York —  Each year at ABC’s upfront presentation, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel shows up to lob zingers at broadcast competitors NBC, CBS and Fox — and occasionally to make fun of his own corporate overlords too.

On Tuesday, Kimmel took time out from his mock campaign for the vice presidency to take part in the annual tradition of take-no-prisoners comedy. It turned out he had plenty of reason to gloat: ABC announced Tuesday afternoon it had renewed his contract through 2019.

Here’s a sprinkling of his best punch lines.

• On Arnold Schwarzenegger, new host of “The Celebrity Apprentice”: “Should a guy who knocked up his maid really be put in charge of an apprenticeship program?”
• On Fox’s decision not to release live-plus-same-day ratings: “Their arguments would carry more weight if they were not in last place. It’s like the Knicks announcing they are no longer using the final score.”
• On ousted ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee: “This is kind of our family reunion every year. Where’s Uncle Paul? Oh that’s right, I forgot.… I hate to see anyone, especially a British person, lose his dental plan.”
• On the Prince of Darkness: “Fox has ‘Lucifer,’ which you know is based on the life of their founder, Rupert Murdoch.”
• On this fall’s numerous movie-to-series adaptations, like “Lethal Weapon” and “The Exorcist”: “All your favorite VHS tapes are coming to TV.”
• On the decline of the network TV biz: “2016 is still an exciting time in broadcast television, in the same way that 1937 was an exciting time to be on the Hindenburg.”
• On ABC’s programming misfires: “18 to 49 isn’t just our target demo — it’s the number of people who watched ‘Wicked City’ last season.”