In February of last year, I went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in California. (Of course, I was really more interested in seeing my niece and nephew.)

In case you don’t recall the story, I had tickets to see Craig Ferguson but they cancelled the taping a week before my trip, and by that time there were no regular tickets available for anything else I wanted to see. Then, during the trip, my understanding brother and I stood in the standby audience line for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for two hours — we were second and third in line — only to find out it was a very rare evening when they didn’t need anyone at all from the standby line.

Well, I returned to Tennessee and wrote a tongue-in-cheek newspaper column about what I’ve just told you. I also said that both Ferguson and Kimmel deserved to air in earlier time slots locally — at the time, both were running considerably past their official network air times here in Middle Tennessee.

A week or so after the column ran, I got a very nice letter and a trio of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” baseball caps from the show’s executive producer. She had seen my column, I presume by means of a Google News Alert or something similar, and generously offered to make sure I had reserved VIP seating for “JKL” on my next visit to California.

Since that time, the Kimmel show has begun airing a half-hour earlier in Middle Tennessee — still a half-hour later than its network run, but it’s a start.

My brother and sister-in-law have been talking about moving east for several years, but have been looking for just the right job situation. When I got my letter from “JKL,” I recall thinking that they’d probably move east before I got the chance to take advantage of the show’s generous offer.

I found out today that they’ll be moving east this summer. That’s fantastic news for everyone. It’s a great situation for them, and it means they’ll only be a long day’s drive away from us here, so I’ll get to see my nephew and niece much more often.

It probably wouldn’t work out for them, or me either, for me to make a quick trip out there between now and then. They’ll be busy trying to wrap things up and pack and what have you.

I jokingly e-mailed my brother today that they have me to thank for their exciting opportunity; Murphy’s law for me meant relocation for them.

My brother and sister-in-law in California really enjoyed “Flight of the Conchords” on HBO, and I was jealous, because I don’t get HBO and I loved the one song I saw them do on Letterman.

Well, I just discovered in the listings that Comedy Central will start airing reruns of the show tonight.

I also found out this week that TV Guide channel, of all things, is re-running “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” the day after it airs on ABC. Of course, JKL and the other late-night talk shows are in doubt right now because of the writer’s strike.

Bringing things back to the California relatives, since they won’t be coming home for Christmas I would really like to get out there some time next spring — to see them and to take advantage of my promised reserved seats for JKL, assuming they’re back in production by that time.

Sometimes, being a journalist can be frustrating, but every once in a while it has its perks.

Earlier this week, I wrote a column for our opinion page about my recent California vacation and about being in the standby line for “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

This morning, I got a package from one of the executive producers of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” She had read my column — probably by means of a Google News Alert or some such — and sent me some “Jimmy Kimmel Live” ball caps and a promise of reserved seats the next time I’m in the L.A. area. Pretty cool, huh?

Of course, what this means is that my brother and sister-in-law will move back east, and therefore I won’t get back to L.A. any time soon …..

(I guess I ought to explain the title of the post. Kimmel had a running joke for a while where he would end each show by apologizing that they hadn’t had time to bring out Matt Damon as a guest. This was a joke because Damon is a much bigger star than some of the guests who did appear on the program. When the show did a prime-time anniversary special, Damon made a cameo appearance and complained in mock anger about being bumped from the show so many times.)