It’s Conan the Barbarian.
Conan O’Brien, 61, is likely to be a prolific speak present host, comic, and podcaster – however surprisingly, 2025 marks his first time internet hosting the Oscars.
In a playful opening, O’Brien was launched as a “four-time Oscars viewer.”
On the stage, he was stuffed with self-deprecating jokes and appeared relaxed as he goofed round.
“A Complete Unknown. A Real Pain. Nosferatu. These are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet….I think two were fair,” the comic started.
O’Brien additionally didn’t waste time on commenting on the elephant within the room: “Emilia Perez” star Karla Sofia Gascon, 52, the primary transgender girl to get a finest actress nomination – earlier than she fell from grace after her controversial social media posts resurfaced in January.
“‘Anora’ uses the f-word 479 times,” he started, referring to the nominated movie, earlier than including, “that’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist.”
He added that the actress “is here tonight….And Karla, if you are gonna tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.”
As an Oscars host, O’Brien follows Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted in each 2023 and 2024 – in addition to in 2018 and 2017 – Regina Corridor, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes, who co-hosted collectively in 2022, two years in a row (2020 and 2021) when the ceremony had no host, and Chris Rock, who hosted in 2016.
O’Brien then took a jab at “Best Actor” nominee Timothée Chalamet, who was carrying a vibrant yellow go well with.
“Timmy Chalamet is up for best actor tonight. Love that suit, you will not get hit on your bike tonight. Safe!” he teased.
O’Brien stated that as a substitute of playoff music, to provide actors an incentive to shorten their acceptance speeches, he would both present John Lithgow within the viewers trying not mad however disenchanted, or he’d present a headshot from the start of their careers. He proceeded to show a headshot of “The Brutalist” star Man Pearce with a mullet and joke, “I loved you in Guns N’Roses.”
He additionally displayed Chalamet’s “headshot” as a sonogram of a child in a womb, mocking his youth.
O’Brien then stated, “I did that to them so its only fair to do it to me,” as he confirmed an image of himself as a toddler with buckteeth and a bowl minimize, quipping that he was “38 years old” in it.
“Finally, for such a prestigious night, it’s important that everyone is properly dressed,” he stated, because the digicam minimize to Adam Sandler sitting within the viewers clad in basketball shorts, sneakers, and a blue hoodie.
“Nobody even thought about what I was wearing until you brought it up!” Sandler stated in mock rage as he stormed out.
Getting critical for a second, O’Brien additionally addressed the lethal LA wildfires, which took many celebrities’ properties, together with his personal. “The people of Los Angeles have been through a devastating ordeal, and this needs to be addressed,” he started.
“In moments such as this, any awards show can seem self indulgent and superfluous. Yes, we will honor many beautiful and talented A-list stars,” he stated.
“But the Oscars shines a light on people you will never see – craftspeople, artisans, technicians, customers. Hardworking men and women behind the camera who have devoted their lives to making film.”
Lightening up, he added, “Even in the face of terrible wildfires and divisive politics, this seemingly absurd ritual is gonna be here….I will not, I’m leaving Hollywood to run a bed and breakfast in Orlando.”
O’Brien then broke out right into a track mocking the Oscar hosts’ tendency to do time-wasting songs and comedy bits, singing, “I won’t waste time!”
Throughout his track, he sang, “Now for no good reason, here’s the sandworm from Dune II playing chopsticks on the piano!” as somebody in a Sandworm costume got here out.
“Hey to check it out, someone who’s not even nominated, dancing Deadpool,” he added, as a dancer in costume got here out throughout his “I won’t waste time” track.
In a February 27 interview with the New York Occasions, O’Brien admitted that he was excited however apprehensive concerning the gig.
“It’s the thing I wake up and think about at night: What’s the best way to tackle this? How? In a way that makes me creatively happy?” he stated.
“There will be things that don’t go the way I want them to go,” he added. “But stay open to the possibility that that’s a gift, and you can make something out of it.”
He additionally admitted that he’d by no means attended the ceremony earlier than. “This was the only way I could get invited,” he joked.
O’Brien is finest recognized for his late-night internet hosting profession, which spanned greater than twenty years. Earlier than that, he wrote for “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.”
He stated he spoke with Billy Crystal, who hosted the Oscars 9 occasions between 1990 and 2012.
“The entertainment landscape has changed a lot. I told Billy Crystal: ‘You hit a note that I think you can’t hit anymore.’ Because when people tuned in to his Oscars, everyone had seen the movies he was parodying. It’s not the communal campfire that it maybe once was,” he instructed the outlet.
O’Brien nonetheless thinks the Oscars “has meaning” regardless of that.
“I don’t think of it as a thankless task — even if I just do it once, and no one’s interested in me doing it again, it will have been a meaningful experience for me,” he stated. “My parents aren’t here to see it, but I know it would have been a huge deal to them.”
In Dec. 2024, each of O’Brien’s mother and father died inside days of one another. He was additionally one of many many celebrities impacted by the lethal LA wildfires and instructed the Occasions he’s nonetheless residing in a resort.
“My one goal with the Oscars is, I would like to have fun onstage that night. I would like to enjoy it,” he stated.
“Because I’m at a stage in my career where I don’t know if one thing leads to another anymore.”
