My local ABC affiliate, WKRN-TV, delays “Jimmy Kimmel Live” by an hour, well past my bedtime, and when I do tape a late night talk show it’s usually “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” But it’s not that I don’t like Jimmy, and I happily watched his prime time special on Wednesday night.

Kimmel has had a running joke (I’d read about this) where he would get to the end of the show, especially if the show had somewhat little-known guests, and when signing off he would apologize to the actor Matt Damon for not having time to bring him on stage. I think this may stem from some incident earlier in the show’s run when they tried to book Damon and couldn’t.

Anyway, the prime time special last night featured Kimmel showing a series of clips and then saying that, tonight, they would actually have time for Damon. Sure enough, Damon walked out onto stage, and sat on the couch next to Kimmel’s desk — whereupon Kimmel announced that the show was out of time and thanked Damon for his appearance. The closing credits featured Damon (in what was obviously a bit) cursing at Kimmel for the indignity, with a number of words bleeped out.

Predictable? Sure. But it made me smile anyway.