Conan O’Brien took aim at some of Hollywood’s biggest target in a spirited Oscars opening monologue on March 15.
He also joked about Timothée Chalamet’s recent ballet and opera comments that became controversial online. “Security is very tight tonight,” O’Brien quipped. “There’s concerns about attacks from the ballet and opera communities.” He then addressed Chalamet, saying, “They’re just mad you left out jazz.”
O’Brien also teased that, “I should warn you tonight could get political. Okay? And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave & Buster’s down the street.”
He also mocked Ted Sarandos, saying it was his first time in a theater. “Why are they all together enjoying themselves? They should be home alone, where I can monetize it,” O’Brien-as-Sarandos said.
O’Brien opened the show with a pre-taped segment where he was made up as Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys from “Weapons,” interrupting scenes from Best Picture nominees as he’s pursued by the film’s killer kids. That segment transitioned into a live shot of kids chasing a stuntman into the Dolby Theatre, where O’Brien then came out fresh-faced in a tux.
O’Brien is returning to host the show after doing it for the first time last year.
In the days leading up to this year’s ceremony, O’Brien appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to talk about the challenges of writing a monologue in a rapid news cycle.
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“Here’s an interesting thing about these monologues,” he said. “We started working on this thing in early January, late December, and people will write jokes that are, ‘Oh, this great joke.’ And then you realize it’s 35 news cycles ago now. So you’ll be like, ‘Can you believe what’s going on with Venezuela? That’s insane.’ There were a couple of months ago where it was like, ‘That’s great.’”
O’Brien admitted that even other shows during awards season can throw off planned material.
“So you’ll write something and you see jokes come and go because we live in fast times,” he continued. “There’s a lot happening. There’s a lot of other award shows. There are other invasions. There’s all this new stuff happening all the time, and you need to keep up with it. Things can happen week-to-week, day-to-day, so you have to leave room for that, I think.”
See the Oscars winners list here.
From Variety US