Conan O’Brien was on hosting duties for the first time at this year’s Academy Awards, which took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood last night (March 2).
After a skit that saw him pay homage to The Substance by climbing out of Demi Moore’s body in his dressing room, O’Brien delivered a confident monologue that poked gentle fun at the nominees and himself. For example: “A Complete Unknown, A Real Pain, Nosferatu – these were just some of the names I was called on the red carpet”. On The Brutalist, he said: “I didn’t want it to end… and thankfully it didn’t.”
The opening also featured several skits, some on the surreal side. He promised to usher off stage those with over-long speeches by cutting to an unimpressed John Lithgow, and showed some old headshots of the nominees, of which Timothee Chalamet’s was an ultrascan photo. He finished the monologue with a musical sequence called ‘I Won’t Waste Time’ that included a sandworm from Dune: Part Two playing the piano.
He saved his best gags for midway through the telecast. Firstly, referencing this year’s Super Bowl, he said: “We’re halfway through the show which means it’s time for Kendrick Lemar to come out and call Drake a paedophile!”
Later, noting the slew of awards for Anora, he delivered his own Donald Trump joke of the night: “I guess Americans are excited to see someone finally stand up to a powerful Russian.”
The ceremony kicked off with a montage paying tribute to Los Angeles, of which swathes have been devastated by wildfires earlier this year, including clips of famous Los Angeles-set films including Chinatown and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Members of the fire service later joined O’Brien on stage to a standing ovation, before reading out some jokes the host said were “too controversial” for him to say (“Our hearts go out to all those who have lost their homes – and I’m talking about the producers of Joker 2”).
O’Brien also had not one but two gags about Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon, in attendance despite the controversy around her old social media posts. He said: ”Anora uses the F-word 479 times… that’s three more times than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist”, before adding: “Karla, if you want to tweet about the Oscars tonight, my name is [previous host] Jimmy Kimmel”.
Bond tribute
Halle Berry hailed outgoing James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (awarded honorary accolades at November’s Governors Awards) ahead of a lavish Bond tribute musical sequence, featuring Margaret Qualley dancing and Lisa, Doja Cat and Raye performing various Bond tunes.
Berry said: “I had the pleasure of working with Barbara and Michael on Die Another Day and let me tell you – they don’t just produce Bond movies, they were the heart and soul of this franchise for decades.”
Morgan Freeman began the ’in memoriam’ segment by paying tribute to his Unforgiven and Under Suspicion co-star Gene Hackman, who died last week: “Our community lost a giant and I lost a dear friend,” said Freeman. “Gene always said, ‘I don’t think about legacy, I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work’.”
Other stars remembered included David Lynch, Maggie Smith and James Earl Jones.
Malfunctioning lift
One of the most inventive skits of the night saw Ben Stiller present the production design award from a malfunctioning lift. “Production design brings the visual world of a screenplay to life, it is a field where the slightest miscalculation can lose the trust of the audience and humiliate the performers onscreen,” he deadpanned.
Towards the end of the evening, two iconic duos also took to the stage.
Firstly, The Color Purple co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg reunited to pay tribute to seven-time Oscar nominee Quincy Jones, who died aged 91 in November. “When we talk about Black excellence, we talk about Quincy,” said Goldberg.
Finally, When Harry Met Sally… duo Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan teamed up to present best picture, with O’Brien describing Crystal as “the best ever Oscars host”. Crystal said: “It’s great to be back because I used to work here… it was nine tuxedos ago.”
Anora led the winners on the night, collecting five awards including best picture, best director and best actress.
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