JIMMY Kimmel and Matt Damon have made it clear that they appreciate comedic value.
A fake feud between the two TV stars has become a long-running joke in Hollywood.
Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images- GettyMatt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel at an MLB World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on October 28, 2018[/caption]
How did the beef between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon begin?
The humorous beef between Kimmel and Damon began during season three of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2005.
This is when the talk show host started the now-famous “Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time” bit.
At the time, the two men had never even met.
On January 21, 2013, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube Channel posted a video compilation of the bit that has garnered 4.6million views.
Kimmel, who will be hosting the Oscars 2023, spoke about the start of the joke during a 2013 interview with NPR.
He said: “We had a bad show. …The guests were bad, and I was feeling pretty bad about myself at the end of the program.
“And I decided to say, for the amusement of one of our producers who was standing next to me … ‘I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of time.’ … And he got a kick out of it, the producer, so I just started doing it every night to amuse him.”
The comedian continued: “Matt Damon was just the first name that popped into my head. I was trying to think of an A-list star, and somebody we absolutely would not bump if he was on the show.
“The legs on this bit are unbelievable to me. I mean, people laugh every time I say it. Repeating the same joke every single night, you’d think eventually people would get tired of it, but they don’t.”
What has the fake feud between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon led to?
Kimmel and Damon’s funny feud has led to a friendship between the two television stars, as HuffPost notes.
When speaking on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in July 2021, Damon discussed the joke and the impact it has had on the two men.
He said: “People started to call me and ask like, ‘Hey, what’s your connection to this guy?’ And I’d never met Jimmy. He literally pulled my name out of thin air one night.
“And the way he told me this story, he said he had like a, he said ‘I had a ventriloquist and a guy in a gorilla suit as my guests. And I just said kind of as a throw away, my apologies to Matt Damon when we ran out of time,’ but he could have said Brad Pitt.”
Photo by Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty Images – GettyMatt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel speaking onstage at the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on September 18, 2016[/caption]
“He could’ve said, you know, George [Clooney] ― he could have said somebody else. But he just, for some reason, maybe I had a movie out that week or something, but he just said my name.
“And it changed the course of both of our lives. We’ve kept this a feud going for, you know, it’s gotta be 15 years now. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.”
How can I watch the Oscars 2023?
The 95th Academy Awards will be taking place on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Viewers can tune in to ABC from 8pm to 11pm ET, 5pm to 8pm PT.
The event will also be available to watch on the ABC website and app.
As The New York Times reported, it will also be available for streaming with subscriptions via Hulu + Live TV, fuboTV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV.