Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Matt Damon Almost Died in His House: “I’m Going to Prison for the Rest of My Life”

Jimmy Kimmel recently opened up about a crazy night at his house that could have ended in disaster. The story came during a mid-July interview with Variety, shortly after Kimmel found out he had earned four Primetime Emmy nominations.

The nominations were for his talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC, his YouTube series “The Rabbit Hole with Jimmy Kimmel,” his work as an executive producer on a game show, and as host of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” But amid all the awards talk, Kimmel shared a hilarious and scary story involving Matt Damon.

Kimmel explained that Damon came over to his house for dinner one night. Kimmel had made pork ribs, and Damon, arriving late and very hungry, started eating fast.

That’s when things went wrong. Damon began choking on a rib, which got stuck in his throat for about an hour and a half. Damon’s brother was there, but even with help, the situation was tense.

Kimmel recalled the panic: “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.”

They tried the Heimlich maneuver several times, but it didn’t work. The rib was stuck too far down. Kimmel and everyone else in the room scrambled for solutions. After some research and what Kimmel described as “a lot of YouTube-ing,” they discovered a surprising fix. Eating small pieces of bread helped push the rib down, and it finally worked. “Bread saved him,” Kimmel said.

The story shows a rare side of Kimmel, whose humor is usually dry or sarcastic. In this case, his anger and panic came through, but the story also has a funny ending. Damon survived, thanks to quick thinking, a little research, and a lot of bread.

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