Around the time that Jimmy Kimmel started his show on ABC in 2003 he tried to book Matt Damon and Matt kept saying no. So Kimmel started ending his show with “Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time,” as a way of saying we don’t need you anyways. And this joke has continued on with memorable bits like closing his 3 and 3/4 anniversary special with Matt Damon coming on the show but running out of time for him and Matt cursing him out. Then there was the time that Guillermo ran out of the time for him on the red carpet of the Ocean’s 13 premiere. And then there was the time that Guillermo replaced him in The Bourne Ultimatum.
So when it came time for Kimmel to turn 40 Matt Damon and Kimmel’s girlfriend Sarah Silverman made a little video for him but because of the strike it would have to wait until Jimmy Kimmel Live’s! 5th anniversary. And as we know that video became an instant YouTube hit, so how do Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel feel about it…
Producers at Kimmel approached Damon this past October to appear on the show for the host’s 40th birthday celebration but he opted to keep the joke running.
As for creating the video, “I don’t even think he thought twice about it,” his rep tells PEOPLE. “He just said, ‘I’ll do it.'”
Damon shot the video with Silverman at the end of October in Miami. “He had so much fun,” his rep adds. “It was his turn to get Jimmy.”
