Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue at the 98th Academy Awards cheekily paid tribute to many nominated films – and then some – while acknowledging the tense US political situation and cracks at Timothée Chalamet, Amazon and US healthcare.
After a snappily edited, old-school montage in which O’Brien, dressed as best supporting actress winner Amy Madigan’s character in Weapons (“I look like Bette Davis with lupus,” he joked), stormed through each of the nominated films trailed by children à la Weapons, the second-time host bobbed and weaved through a number of pressing topics, from political divides to AI to Jeffrey Epstein. “I am Conan O’Brien, and I am honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” he quipped. “Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”
O’Brien also touched on reports that this year’s Oscars required beefed-up security – in reality, due to threats from Iran following the US military strikes in the country, though the host joked that instead it was due to “concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities”, after Chalamet’s controversial comments about the commercial value of those art forms. “They’re just mad you left out jazz,” O’Brien said to a gamely smiling Chalamet.
“Tonight could get political,” he added, saying the quiet part out loud, “and if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave & Buster’s down the street.”
Later in the monologue, O’Brien took aim at industry figures such as Netflix head Ted Sarandos (“It’s his first time in a theater! This is what they’re talking about”) and nominations-less studio Amazon (“Also shut out? Walmart, Alibaba and Chewy. Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?!”) as well as the sorry state of US healthcare: “In Hamnet, Shakespeare’s wife gives birth by herself in the woods – or what we call in America affordable healthcare.”
As for the fact that this year is the first since 2012 with no British actors in the top two categories, O’Brien spoke on behalf of Britain when he said “but at least we arrest our pedophiles”, an oblique reference to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Overall, O’Brien, largely considered the patron saint of ex-late-night television hosts and a beloved American comedian, kept the mood light, glancing many of the third rails of US discourse without derailing a night for the celebration of film. But he turned sincere and sober just briefly to acknowledge that the Oscars are, indeed, a international event. “Everyone watching right now, around the world, is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frightening times,” he said. “It’s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant – 31 countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty.”
“We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today – optimism,” he added. “So let us celebrate not be cause we think all is well but becasue we work and hope for better.”
And in the “spirit of optimism”, O’Brien, true to form, dovetailed into a silly bit in which he accepted a mock award for “best achievement” while serenaded by Josh Groban and feted by the pope.
Sunday’s broadcast is expected to see an array of A-list celebrities as presenters, including Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Javier Bardem and Robert Downey Jr, as well as tributes for late icons such as Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and more.
