Any pop culture lover is probably aware of the faux feud between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel, which all started way back in 2003 when Jimmy ended an episode of his late-night talk show by jokingly saying: “Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time.”
This joke immediately became a running gag on Jimmy Kimmel Live, with the host ending his show with the same quip night after night. During an appearance on the I See You podcast, Matt admitted that this off-the-cuff moment from Jimmy “changed the rest of [their] lives” as he confirmed that he’d never even met the host prior to that moment.
Matt finally did appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live three years later, in 2006, and the two fully leaned into the bit by having Jimmy end the show right after introducing Matt as his guest. At the time, Matt jokingly started cussing out the host and stormed off stage.
Matt returned the following year, and enlisted Jimmy’s then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman to prank Jimmy, with Sarah recording a song called: “I’m Fucking Matt Damon,” and the two shooting a music video together that joked about them having a secret sexual relationship behind Jimmy’s back.
Jimmy got his own back in 2009, when he called in Matt’s longtime best friend for the song: “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck,” and an accompanying music video.
The gags have continued in a similar vein throughout the years, with the two men regularly pranking one another and poking fun at their “rivalry.”
So, with all of this in mind, it’s pretty on brand that Matt genuinely almost died when he had dinner at Jimmy’s house, with Jimmy only just sharing the previously untold story about how he almost actually killed Matt Damon.
The anecdote came to light during Jimmy’s recent interview with Variety, and how suspicious it would have looked if the Hollywood actor had died at his hands after decades of public play-fighting was not lost on Jimmy.
“Matt Damon was over at my house one night for dinner. I made pork ribs. He came late, was very hungry, and started eating fast,” Jimmy told the publication. “He started choking on a pork rib. It was stuck in his throat for about an hour and a half.”
“His brother was there. I said: ‘We have got to get him to the hospital,’ because if he dies in my house, I’m going to prison for the rest of my life. I will never be able to explain this as anything other than a murder,” the star went on to quip, but thankfully, the trio were able to find a solution with the help of the trusty internet.
“We did a lot of YouTube-ing and finally concluded that eating little bits of bread was the way to get that rib to work its way down into his stomach — and bread saved him,” Jimmy concluded. “We tried the Heimlich many times. It was too far down.”
Whew, thank goodness for YouTube! Needless to say, I’m personally very glad that Matt Damon didn’t choke to death on a pork rib in Jimmy Kimmel’s house. Let me know your thoughts on Jimmy’s anecdote in the comments below!
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