Jimmy Kimmel reprised his role as the host of the 96th Oscars ceremony, a position he had held three times prior. His thoughts on hosting four times? “Why would I do this four times? It makes no sense. It’s not even a good round number,” he shared with CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister.
Even with lighthearted dismay, Kimmel was utterly prepared for Hollywood’s biggest night. In an interview with WFAA, Kimmel revealed that he had been writing jokes for months. His biggest fear? Just that people wouldn’t tune in on time. Kimmel quipped to the crowd of nominees, “The show is starting an hour early this year, but don’t worry it will still end very, very late.”
With 19.5 million viewers tuning in, Kimmel can breathe a sigh of relief that millions of people did not miss his monologue nor his jabs at Robert Downey Jr., Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and others.
Kimmel recognized Robert Downey Jr.’s achievement in his nomination as Best Supporting Actor for “Oppenheimer” while playfully hinting at the actor’s troubled past, gesturing to his nose that this is “one of the highest” points of the actor’s career which RDJ accepted with a laugh.
Noting that Bradley Cooper is rarely at awards shows without his mother, Kimmel also joked, “How many times can one bring his mom as his date before he is actually dating his mom?”— a very astute observation that no doubt left Cooper blushing in his seat, right beside his mother.
Kimmel also provided the audience with a stunning statistic about Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster’s longevity in the industry—they were both nominated 48 years ago for “Taxi Driver” and were both nominated again Sunday night—before stating that Foster is now 20 years too old to be his girlfriend. Robert De Niro nodded his head in agreement, the good old sport that he is.
If the 2023 Oscars gave us any indication of what could’ve been in store for us this past Sunday night, it’s fair to say that while a parachute entrance onto the stage was out of the question (last year’s crowd-pleaser was a nod to “Top Gun: Maverick”), an equally on-point gimmick must have been in store.
Sure enough, while Kimmel did not arrive at the Dolby Theater using a sports car, a speedboat, a rocket ship, a tandem bike, a camper van, and a snowmobile in that order to get to the “state of Los Angeles” to host the Oscars (a la “Barbie”), we did see a very nearly naked John Cena present the award for Best Costume, successfully eliciting giggles from everyone in the audience. (And what an uncanny resemblance to the Oscars statue behind him!)
Oscars night also wouldn’t have been complete without political topics finding their space onstage. Regarding the looming threat of artificial intelligence, Kimmel applauded the efforts made in the SAG-AFTRA and WGA negotiations, praising their progress in protecting their actors and writers from copyright infringement. He assured the audience that “thanks to this historic agreement, actors are now able to go back to worrying about younger, more attractive people replacing them.”
Thankfully, the crowd jeered—Kimmel had already played his “let’s get 20 seconds for room tone” card after his Yorgos joke fell somewhat flat. (Kimmel noted that Yorgos Lanthimos and his film editor, Yorgos Mavropsaridis, share the same first name. Given the coincidence of having “two Yorgos’ in the house”, Kimmel asked “Will they both win? Yorgos is as good as mine,” a cheesy, cheeky wink-wink.)
At the conclusion of his monologue, Kimmel aptly expressed that despite how “pretentious and superficial” Hollywood can be, the heart of it is that it’s a union town.
He announced that they—presumably SAG-AFTRA and the WGA—would stand with IATSE and all crew/below-the-line worker unions while they begin their own negotiations. Kimmel’s stance was met with a large wave of audience support as tech crew and stage engineers joined him onstage, powerfully displaying a united front of behind-the-scenes individuals who “wear sneakers to the Oscars” and make every production possible.
Shockingly, throughout the broadcast, there weren’t any jokes targeting Kimmel’s longtime nemesis, Matt Damon, who was one of the only cast members of “Oppenheimer” to not receive a nomination. Thankfully, it is not in typical Kimmel fashion to ignore a chance to make a fool of Damon. The Oscars sophisticatedly ended with a shot of Messi, the dog from the Oscar-nominated film, “Anatomy of a Fall,” taking a leak on Matt Damon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Topping us off, the Kimmel-hosted Oscars were concluded in his unapologetic, uncalled-for, yet tastefully on-brand style that has us ready and interested in what he’ll bring to the table if—dare I already suggest—he hosts again next year, for the fifth time.