Conan O’Brien kicked off the Oscars with a bang, opening his hosting debut with a monologue that poked fun at the films and stars nominated at Hollywood’s biggest night.
Before the jokes, in a pre-taped segment, O’Brien emerged from inside Demi Moore’s body à la “The Substance” and crawled out not necessarily younger or hotter but at least in a tuxedo.
“Hi, Demi. How are you?” O’Brien said when he walked onto the Dolby Theatre stage. “That was weird. Yeah, awkward. I’m missing some car keys.”
O’Brien then addressed the elephant in the room: the controversy that erupted over “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón’s offensive social media posts.
“Little fact for you: ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times,” O’Brien said. “That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist.” O’Brien then pitched his voice up to imitate Gascón’s reps — “You tweeted WHAT?!” — then danced around the stage jovially.
The camera then cut to Gascón, who seemed to be in on the joke, making prayer hands. “Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel,” O’Brien quipped.
The comic had plenty of movie-specific one-liners that cracked up the audience of Hollywood A-listers.
“If you haven’t seen ‘Conclave,’ its logline is: A movie about the Catholic Church, but don’t worry,” he said. Later on: “Another movie nominated for best picture is ‘I’m Still Here.’ Incredible film. It’s about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she called it the feel-good movie of the year.”
The host then turned to Timothée Chalamet, who he noted is “nominated for his portrayal of Bob Dylan” in “A Complete Unknown.”
“Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly,” O’Brien joked.
He also touched on films that didn’t score Oscar nominations, like “Babygirl,” in which “Antonio Banderas plays a man who doesn’t know how to give his wife an orgasm,” O’Brien said. “He described it as the most challenging role of his career.”
O’Brien has never previously hosted the Academy Awards, but he helmed the Emmys ceremony twice, in 2002 and 2006. He also hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2014.
O’Brien, a mainstay of late night television from 1993 to 2021 with NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien,” then TBS’ “Conan.” He has hosted the popular podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” since 2018, and he has a travel show, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” on Max.
From Variety US