Matt Damon’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ takeover: A changing of the guard?
It’s possible that not every “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” viewer on Thursday night thought the surprise takeover of the show by Matt Damon was funny; however, when can you ever win universal approval from an audience? What this show proved to us more than anything else Kimmel has done is that he and his staff are serious in being a part of the late-night war, and want to be more than just in a fight for second place. They want to be on top.
While Jay Leno and David Letterman were repeating their same sort of jokes to increasingly older audiences, Kimmel did something that the other shows have not tried in years: took a risk. His longtime “nemesis” Damon ran the entire show while Jimmy was gagged in the background, and there were more celebrities here than we knew what to do with. Andy Garcia was his sidekick, Sheryl Crow led the band, Robin Williams had a monologue, and we had visits with everyone from Kimmel’s ex Sarah Silverman (who famous f***ed Matt Damon in a viral video) to Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Nicole Kidman, Gary Oldman, and even a rare late-night appearance from Demi Moore.
As if this wasn’t enough, Kimmel and Damon also managed to get Robert de Niro, Oprah Winfrey, and many other big-name stars to tape little bits for the show mocking the host and praising the movie star, and we found every part of it funny. The only thing that is remotely comparable to what Kimmel pulled off is when Adam Sandler guest-hosted for an ailing David Letterman years ago, and his guests included his own dog along with Don Cheadle.
Of course, there was one man during the night that was still loyal to Kimmel: Damon’s real-life pal Ben Affleck, who made a revenge video years ago with Jimmy to combat what Silverman and Damon did.
What did you think about Kimmel’s show: was it hilarious, annoying, or a worthy experiment regardless? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can see more highlights from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” this month over at the link here.
Photo: ABC