Emmy-winning speak present host and comic Conan O’Brien has been tapped to host the 97th Academy Awards, set for March 2, the academy introduced Friday.
This will mark O’Brien’s first time internet hosting the Oscars, with the academy betting on his sharp, whimsical wit and a long time of stay tv expertise to inject new vitality into the ceremony and assist carry viewers again to a broadcast that has struggled with declining scores of late. years.
“We are thrilled and honored to have the incomparable Conan O’Brien as host of the Oscars this 12 months,” mentioned academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang in a joint assertion. “He is the right individual to assist lead our international celebration of cinema together with his sensible humor, his love of cinema and his experience in stay TV.”
The 61-year-old O’Brien has honed his signature model of self-deprecating, absurdist comedy over greater than three a long time of tv, beginning as a author on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons” within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s. earlier than transferring to the late-night area, the place he hosted “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.” After ending his 28-year run on late night time in 2021, O’Brien discovered a brand new viewers together with his hit podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” and just lately returned to the display screen together with his personal present journey Max “Conan O’Brien has to go.” (As far as films go, his credit are restricted to a handful of cameos as himself and voice in animated movies like “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.”)
“America requested for it and now it is taking place: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme,” O’Brien joked in his personal assertion, “In different information, I’m internet hosting the Oscars.”
By hiring a seasoned veteran, the present’s producers are relying on O’Brien — very similar to fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who helmed the 2017 telecast through the notorious “Moonlight” best-picture mix-up — to have the all it is advisable to navigate the unpredictability of stay TV whereas providing much-needed levity. The Oscars come at a time when Hollywood is grappling with challenges together with ongoing streaming upheavals, consolidation, the fallout from a historic strike and the uncertainty of a second Trump presidency.
Once thought of a coveted place for comedians like Bob Hope and Billy Crystal, the high-stakes position of Oscar host has grow to be more and more troublesome to fill, because the highlight on the present has intensified whereas scores have steadily declined from their peak over 55 million. viewers in 1998. The March broadcast, boosted by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon and hosted by third-place host Kimmel, attracted 19.5 million viewers, up 4% from the earlier 12 months.
In earlier makes an attempt to streamline the telecast and alter its system, the Oscars went hostless from 2019 to 2021, and in 2023 the ceremony featured a trio of hosts — Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall — in an evening darkened by Will Smith’s shadow. slap by Chris Rock.
“Conan has all of the makings of a fantastic Oscars host: he’s extremely witty, charismatic and humorous and has confirmed himself to be a grasp of stay tv,” the present’s govt producers, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, mentioned in a press release . “We stay up for working with him to ship a brand new, thrilling and celebratory present for Hollywood’s greatest night time.”
