Jimmy Kimmel has come a long way from his days as a morning radio guy on Los Angeles’s “Kevin and Bean” show on KROQ. Kimmel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Friday morning, following Matt Damon taking over Kimmel’s show Thursday night.
Kimmel first rose to prominence at KROQ, then moved on to Comedy Central where he hosted “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” “The Man Show” and appeared on the “Crank Yankers” prank call show.
He’s hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC since January 2003 — Saturday marks 10 years of the show. It recently moved half an hour earlier to directly compete against Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” and David Letterman on “Late Night.” It’s even more Hollywood than “The Tonight Show” — rather than broadcasting from scenic Burbank, California, it broadcasts right from the heart of Hollywood at Disney’s El Capitan Theater.
The Damon-hosted episode of the show is the culmination of a joking feud between Kimmel and Damon, with Kimmel’s signature closing being an apology to Matt Damon who he was always allegedly bumping from the show.
In a wonderful bit of awkward TV, Damon interviewed comedian Sarah Silverman, Kimmel’s ex who was with him for many years.
In an appropriate grand finale, Damon bumped Kimmel from his own show.
You can watch the full episode here. There were appearances by Ben Affleck, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Demi Moore, Andy Garcia and Gary Oldman. Another notable who appeared on the show — musical guest Sheryl Crow, not long after her former beau Lance Armstrong admitted to doping. She’s refused to answer whether she knew about that or not, but she stuck to the music on the Damon show.
The episode was also such a ratings success that it's getting a primetime rerun, next Tuesday at 10 p.m. Sorry, "Body of Proof."
Check out the previous highlight of the Kimmel/Damon feud: Sarah Silverman's song, "F*@#ing Matt Damon."
