Sarah Silverman Remembers Iconic ‘F—ing Matt Damon’ Video Shoot

LOS ANGELES, California — Sarah Silverman shared memories of her whirlwind experience shooting the infamous ‘F—ing Matt Damon‘ video during an appearance on Ted Danson‘s podcast, ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’. The video, which aimed to surprise her then-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel on his late night show, came together in record time.

Silverman recounted how she had only three hours to shoot the video at a Miami hotel the day after crafting the song with a team of writers. ‘We wrote the song like in a fury and recorded it, and one of the guys did Matt’s voice,’ she explained. Silverman highlighted the tight schedule, noting that Matt Damon agreed to participate due to a strict time constraint: ‘He had a hard out at noon because his daughter had a Halloween pageant.’

The production was chaotic yet exhilarating. ‘He came in and learned it in a closet in one of the hotel rooms, recorded his part, and then we just played the audio and lip-synced it,’ Silverman said. The team managed to shoot across four different locations within the short time frame, embracing a ‘run-and-gun’ style. ‘It came out so great,’ she added.

To maintain the element of surprise, Silverman had to deceive Kimmel about her whereabouts. ‘I remember I had to lie to him about where I was on tour,’ she admitted. Though not skilled at deception, she felt a strong commitment to making the project work. ‘But it was just ‘ok commit to this’.’

The effort paid off when Silverman won her first Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the video in 2008, marking a significant achievement in her career.