“Sorry Matt Damon, we’ve run out time”, Jimmy Kimmel’s “feud” with the Hollywood star explained

The “feud” between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel is a long-running, satirical gag that has become a beloved part of pop culture. It’s not a genuine animosity, but rather an elaborate running joke that both men have enthusiastically played along with for nearly two decades.

The “feud” began somewhat randomly during the third season of Kimmel’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the television star has explained that after a particularly bad episode with unengaging guests, he felt the need to end the show with a joke to cheer up his producer and on December 14, 2005, Kimmel offhandedly said, “Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time.”

The humor stemmed from the fact that Matt Damon wasn’t even scheduled to be on the show that night, and Kimmel and Damon had reportedly never even met at that point.

The producer found it funny, and Kimmel continued the joke as a recurring gag at the end of his show.

Damon gets involved

About a year later, Damon finally appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In a brilliant joke, Kimmel introduced him, and just as Damon sat down, the band started playing, and Kimmel announced they were out of time, ending the show and leaving Damon comically frustrated.

Over the years, the “feud” has become a consistent source of comedy on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with various recurring jokes such as Kimmel constantly “bumping” Damon or claiming they’ve run out of time whenever Damon tries to appear.

We’ve also seen Damon “sneaking” onto the show in various disguises or interrupting segments.

Damon speaks

Speaking recently on the longstanding gag, the Cambridge (Massachusetts) born actor stated: ‘He literally pulled my name out of thin air one night, he (Kimmel) told me ...’I had a ventriloquist and a guy in a gorilla suit as guests and I just said as a throwaway, ‘apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time’.

Damon added: ‘He could have said Brad Pitt, or somebody else, maybe I had a movie out that week but the joke changed the course of both of our lives’.

‘We’ve kept this ‘feud’ going for 15 years and had a lot of fun doing it’.

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