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Conan O’Brien is hosting the Oscars: what to expect and how we think he’ll do

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Conan O'Brien sits among giant Oscars.
ABC

This year’s Academy Awards are going to look a little different. For one thing, there won’t be any musical performances at the Oscars for any of the tunes up for Best Song… which we feel is a mistake. Nor will four-time host Jimmy Kimmel be presiding over the ceremony as he had for the past two years. Instead, another late night TV personality, Conan O’Brien, will be hosting his first Oscars on Sunday, March 2.

O’Brien is a former writer for The Simpsons who shot to fame in the ’90s as the host of Late Night with Conan O’Brien before briefly transitioning to The Tonight Show on NBC. When O’Brien fell out with NBC in 2010, he moved over to TBS to host a new late night show called Conan for 11 years before retiring from weekly hosting. Since 2021, O’Brien has focused on podcasting and other comedic endeavors. He’s also a two-time host of the Emmy Awards and the White House Correspondents’ dinner.

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What to expect from Conan O’Brien at the Oscars

Conan O'Brien on Hosting The Oscars - The Oscars

In the video above, O’Brien factiously promises that the nine-hour telecast will include “several moment in the Oscars where I’ll be shirtless and oiled,” before adding, “I think that’s going to hurt the program incredibly.” Although O’Brien has often let himself be the brunt of his own jokes, he’s probably kidding about going shirtless.

O’Brien is also less political with his comedy than Kimmel is, but there may still be some jokes among party lines. That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if O’Brien’s frequent collaborator, Robert Smigel, brings his famous puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to the Oscars. If there are going to be political jokes at this year’s Academy Awards, they would almost certainly come from Triumph… if he’s going to be used there.

How we think Conan O’Brien will do at the Oscars

Conan O'Brien behind the wheel of a boat wearing a yellow rain jacket with a pipe in his mouth in a scene from Conan O'Brien Must Go.
Max

The short answer is he’s going to do fine. Even if O’Brien didn’t have decades of late night comedy shows in his resume, hosting the Emmys is a lot like hosting the Oscars. There shouldn’t be any problems with O’Brien’s performance, and if there are awkward moments during the show, he’s always managed to make the most out of those as well.

We’d like to see O’Brien honor the legacy of nine-time Academy Awards host Billy Crystal by opening the show with a song that incorporates himself into all 10 of this year’s Best Picture nominees. But that might be asking too much.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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