The Oscars were, as usual, a big night for Hollywood's elite this past weekend. We saw some big winners and huge Oscar moments. Of course, for every winner there are several losers, and prior to the show, Conan O’Brien had some fun at the expense of the losers, claiming that consoling distraught nominees was actually his primary job as host.
Speaking to THR ahead of the Oscars, O’Brien pointed out that, as the night goes on, the vast majority of the people in the theater are people who have failed to win an Oscar. It’s an obvious fact, though I admit it’s one I hadn’t really considered until now. O’Brien then joked about a part of his job as host that we (apparently) never see, which involves him trying to make the Oscar losers feel better about losing. He said:
I'm telling people that they're better off without an Oscar. The Oscar will ruin their career, as it has for so many. It's not true. They really should have won. No one wants to hang out with a loser. I think that's my biggest role. As a consoler.
Right now, I’m imagining Conan O’Brien going down into the audience during every commercial break to find the people who didn’t win and tell them everything is going to be ok. In my imagination, everybody is sobbing uncontrollably at the fact that they lost. I also imagine the winners are laughing manically.
This isn’t how it actually looks, of course. While I’m sure nominees are disappointed they didn’t win, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a nominee needing consolation for not winning. Usually its fans who are the most upset when somebody is snubbed. Even if they really wanted to win, or believed they would, it would be a bad look if they made it that obvious.
While I’m sure winning an Oscar is wonderful, and everybody nominated really wants to have their name called, there is something to be said for the whole “It’s an honor to be nominated” concept. Some stars have said that the nomination is the thing that really matters, far more than the win, so to that degree, I’m not even sure anybody minds not winning.
Still, Conan jokes that in the end, his job as host is really to console people. The whole being funny stage thing is just a small part of his responsibilities. He added:
That's what I do. The jokes are just part of it.
Whatever made Conan O’Brien a great Oscar host, he was good enough at it last year that the Academy wasted no time in signing him to return this year. While Oscar ratings were down compared to last year, most who saw the show seemed to be complimentary of it, and of O’Brien as well, so it will be interesting to see if O’Brien goes back for a third consecutive time.
It would put Conan O’Brien in elite company alongside some of the best Oscars hosts of all time.. Only three people have ever hosted three consecutive Oscar ceremonies: Billy Crystal, Johnny Carson, and Bob Hope, and it hasn’t happened since Crystal did it in the early ‘90s. I’m sure they were all really good at consoling the losers, too.
