Matt Damon Signs More Autographs for ‘Team America’ Than for the Movies He’s Actually In
Matt Damon may not have actually appeared in Team America: World Police, but he still knows his lines.
Ironically, the most beloved and memorable joke from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s strenuously constructed political puppet comedy was an absolute accident. Though the puppet portraying Matt Damon as he aids in the Film Actors’ Guild’s attempts to surreptitiously support North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is famously only capable of speaking the words “Matt Damon!,” as Parker and Stone would later explain, it’s not because they ever considered the Good Will Hunting writer and star to be especially stupid compared to other Hollywood elites. The Matt Damon puppet, which was one of 270 painstakingly made custom models that were used in Team America, came out of the kiln looking “mentally r******d,” according to Parker, and they decided to replace all of the character’s eloquent lines with, iconically, “Matt Damon.”
Though Damon himself didn’t understand why he seemed to be targeted with an especially insulting portrayal in Team America, he took — and continues to take — the joke on his not-comically-misshapen chin. In 2018, Damon spoke to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation (not to be confused with the film one), telling them that, despite his immense filmography, he’s autographed more photos of his Team America puppet than any of his actual movie characters.
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How do you like them Matt Damons?
Even though the acclaimed A-lister has been mercilessly mocked by Parker and Stone in both Team America and South Park itself (Matt Damon told me “fortune favors the bold” and I lost all my fucking money!), Damon is actually a huge fan of the comedy duo. “I love those guys,” Damon said of the South Park creators in his talk with the SAG Foundation. “I think they’re really really funny. I know they offend some people, I think they’re amazing.”
“And I love Team America,” Damon continued, “I think it’s hysterically funny. I’ve signed that picture of the puppet — I’ve signed it more than any other picture.”
Damon explained of his fans’ affection for the character, “When you see the autograph people that come in, they have a stack of pictures. And like, half of them will be the puppet, and they always ask ‘Can you please write (drawn out Matt Damon voice) Matt Damon?’” The actor added, “I never talked to Trey and Matt about it, but I’m a big fan of theirs.”
If only every celebrity who Parker and Stone personally victimized took their portrayals with as much grace as Damon did. Imagine how much money Barbra Streisand would make if she decided to start selling authentic, autographed Mecha-Streisand action figures.