Celebrating his 20th anniversary on the Jimmy Kimmel show, the host recently welcomed back guest George Clooney for an anniversary special. In his introduction, Kimmel thanked the actor for being their “first ever guest” 20 years ago and being “generous and careless enough to help get this garbage truck started.”

Welcoming “gorgeous George Clooney” studio cameras matched the actor’s walking entrance with side-by-side footage of his guest appearance entrance to the show 20 years ago, setting the tone for the excellent humor and nostalgia from the past 20 years that characterized the episode. As the show progressed, Clooney teased that the show was like public access when it started and remarked on how things have changed after watching it: “You got thinner, and I got old.” Among the banter, Kimmel teased Clooney that he didn’t come back for 11 years. “I had a career to pursue,” shrugged Clooney. Clooney joined 20th-anniversary guest Snoop Dogg on the show, who participated in the jokes.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The nostalgic fun took a more slightly serious turn when Kimmel brought out teenage pictures of Snoop and Clooney, Clooney’s presenting as increasingly awkward, to which he light-heartedly defended that his bad bowl cut was done by his mother at the time, while in another picture he actually had teen onset Bell’s Palsy. Watch the full interview from Jimmy Kimmel Live below.

Kimmel Was Able to Play With the Redirection

     ABC

“Now wait, I want to point out something because you’re going to laugh, going to make a joke,” Clooney interrupted. “I have Bell’s palsy there, and half of my face is paralyzed.” Clooney then used his hand to cover each half of the photograph. “Look at this, watch this. If you go like this, and then on the other side, it’s a completely different face. Yeah. So now make your joke. Come on, make your funny joke. Come on, funny man. Come on, let me give you my sad face,” Clooney countered with the humor and grace characteristic of his easy persona.

Kimmel was able to play with the redirection, responding, “You know what? I didn’t have a joke, George, and you really brought everybody down.” After this brought a lot of laughs in the house, Kimmel proposed a toast among the guests to bring up the mood. It was one of several celebratory shots the group took together on the anniversary episode.

Clooney is no stranger to comedy, with films including O Brother, Where Art Thou, Burn After Reading, The Men Who Stare At Goats, his Ocean’s Eleven movies, and his recent film Ticket to Paradise.