TORONTO

No question Mayor Rob Ford walked into an ambush.

An all out barrage may be a better way to put it.

But he handled it a lot of better than he thought he did and the way people were reporting he did.

“It was fine,” Ford said while waiting for his flight at LAX after the taping Monday. “Jimmy’s a comedian and he was just doing his job.”

Turns out Ford’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live was a lot tougher than he was expecting.

The ABC host held nothing back.

Kimmel was relentless in his questions and showed a bunch of embarrassing videos.

Ford probably should have seen that coming.

It should not have been a surprise since Kimmel has been merciless on him and his scandals for months. And begged him to come on the show.

But it was funny TV.

Kimmel did a masterful job of pulling all the sagas together but it didn’t come across nearly as damning as the guy at the centre of it thought it did.

“He’s a little upset,” Doug Ford said of his brother over the line from Los Angeles just after the segment was taped. “But he’s OK.”

In the background I could hear the mayor saying he was “set up” but he did not seem angry or pouting.

But when I talked to him later he said he wasn’t really all that upset.

“No, it was more Doug that was upset. I told him, 'what are you upset about.' No big deal. I was fine. There was some tough questions but it was fun. I had a blast.”

It was a tough grilling. But it wasn’t a complete knockout. The mayor held his own.

It was just a tough interview — compounded by Kimmel succumbing to the pressure of social media browbeating him to not give Ford a soft ride.

You have to be strong because these people are often anonymous, are unforgiving and sometimes mean.

Even some of Kimmel’s fans on his Facebook page said he sandbagged the mayor.

The questioning certainly did not go the way the Kimmel producers said they were going to go when they met in the afternoon before the show.

Ford said he started to decompress from the interview by the time he got to the airport, where he took pictures with dozens of people and shared some laughs.

“I really wanted to promote Toronto on the show and I think I did that,” he said.

There were some tough moments in the interview but Ford had some great comebacks and jokes of his own — especially after Kimmel read out a laundry list of naughty deeds, he quipped “that’s all you got.”

That got a good laugh.

The crowd wasn’t just laughing at Ford from my read of it. They were laughing at his jokes and enjoying his being a good sport about it all.

They seemed to like him. Even Kimmel seems to like him.

“I really enjoyed the people here,” said Ford. “The whole experience was phenomenal and it didn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. And now it’s time to come back to work and start fighting for the Gardiner Expressway.”

Ford acknowledged he kind of got lulled into the whole Kimmel picking him up at the airport thing in a limo and had the impression it was not going to be as intense a grilling as it turned out to be.

Tinseltown can be as alluring as it is deceiving. Lots of sun and smiles but they are sharks out there.

It seems Kimmel was chummy with Ford ever since he arrived out in Los Angeles Saturday but was unyielding in his questioning.

It was good strategy by Kimmel.

But Doug said even though it was a rough ride on the show, the mayor was holding his head high.

“He got his side out,” said Doug. “He’s be out swinging tomorrow.”

Ford said he felt he got out all of his talking points about the politics against him and his customer service approach.

A lot of his haters are just jealous that he even went on such a big show in the first place.

“He did his best,” said Doug.

That was the easy stuff. Now the hard part. The Toronto media is waiting outside his office.

“I am dying to get home,” Rob said. “I miss Toronto.”

Who would have ever thought Mayor Ford would be longing for the company of the local media?