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Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon’s “feud” is a long-running late-night comedy bit, not a documented personal feud. Its central joke is that Kimmel repeatedly apologizes because his show has supposedly run out of time before Damon can appear. Over the years, Damon joined in, turning the recurring gag into a series of sketches, stunts and on-air confrontations.
Is the Jimmy Kimmel–Matt Damon feud real?
The public “feud” is staged comedy. The recurring setup has Kimmel mention Damon as a guest who has been waiting to come on, then say there is no time left. The joke works because the apology became a familiar end-of-show routine, not because the two had a documented booking dispute.
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In a 2013 interview about the show’s planned takeover episode, executive producer Jill Leiderman described the relationship as something cultivated through the program. She said Kimmel and Damon “have become closer as well over the years.” That is Leiderman’s account of their relationship; it does not establish every detail of their private lives.
How did the running gag begin?
Leiderman traced the joke to a night when the guest list was not especially impressive. Kimmel mentioned Damon as someone supposedly still waiting in the green room, intending to amuse co-executive producer Jason Schrift. As Leiderman recalled, “In order to make our co-executive producer Jason Schrift laugh, Jimmy mentioned Matt as somebody who was still waiting in the green room to come on one night when our guest list wasn’t all that illustrious.”
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The TV Guide interview recounts that origin; a later iHeart history dates the gag to 2005. The joke then became a recurring sign-off, with Kimmel acting as though Damon had once again missed his chance to appear.
How the joke developed
The bit expanded from an offhand apology into a format for Damon to participate in the show’s comedy. These milestones show how the gag changed, rather than ranking its installments.
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| Year | Format | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | On-air apology | Kimmel’s supposed lack of time for Damon became a recurring joke. Leiderman recalled the origin; iHeart dates the gag to 2005. TV Guide · iHeart |
| 2006 | Mock confrontation | The TV Guide interview refers to Kimmel “bumping” Damon in 2005 and describes the 2013 takeover as the culmination of the long-running joke. A TIME search excerpt characterizes a 2006 appearance as a staged fight, but that page was not available to verify further scene details. |
| 2008 | Music-video escalation | Sarah Silverman’s “I’m F***ing Matt Damon” video brought Damon into the joke; Kimmel responded with a video about Ben Affleck. iHeart identifies this as a milestone in the gag, not evidence of a real relationship. iHeart |
| 2013 | Show takeover | Damon hosted while Kimmel was tied and gagged at the edge of the set, with a star-filled guest slate. Leiderman said the team had planned the episode for about four years and worked with Damon and his publicist. TV Guide |
| 2015 | Mock couples therapy | An official Jimmy Kimmel Live! page framed Damon as wanting to appear on the program while Kimmel revisited the joke that Damon had been waiting for more than a decade. Damon was promoting The Martian; the segment’s premise was comic framing, not proof of a literal decade-long booking dispute. ABC |
| September 2026 | Live audience stunt | During the show’s Brooklyn residency, Damon interrupted Kimmel’s monologue posing as a Red Sox fan in a New York audience. Kimmel called for security; Damon was seated with Kimmel’s mother and sister and left with them. iHeart reported this on September 29, 2026, as the latest installment it had covered. iHeart |
Why did the bit last?
The original joke gave the show a simple, repeatable punchline: Damon was always the guest Kimmel had supposedly failed to bring out. Once Damon became an active participant, the premise could be adapted to different formats—from a mock confrontation to a takeover and a therapy sketch—without needing to pretend that the underlying dispute was real.
The 2013 takeover was especially suited to that structure: it reversed the usual roles, with Damon hosting and Kimmel rendered unable to interrupt the joke. Leiderman described it as the culmination of the running gag and said the production had been planning it for years.
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What to take from the “feud”
It is best understood as a recurring show bit that Kimmel and Damon have both played along with. The production-side origin comes from Leiderman’s account; later public appearances show how the premise continued to be used. The available accounts do not support treating the joke as evidence of a genuine personal conflict.
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- Blu-ray
- Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC
- English (Original Language)
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