All Hail Conan O'brien, Who Could Host The Oscars Forever And We Wouldn't Mind

With nan authorities of nan federation worse connected beautiful overmuch each metric, it’s bully we tin still stitchery information our surface of prime to watch movie professionals triumph awards for a fewer hours connected a March evening. This happened Sunday for nan 98th clip astatine nan Academy Awards, sent via ABC, Hulu, Disney+ and different platforms into nan world.

The question, this twelvemonth arsenic it is each year, is really this Oscars nighttime was different from immoderate different Oscars night. With Conan O’Brien returning arsenic big successful 2026, nan ceremonial was overmuch successful nan tone of his first spell successful 2025, isolated from this was each successful each a livelier, funnier show. Not perfect, of course, arsenic nan only programme to ever inhabit 3 hours of tv without flagging was “Sábado Gigante,” but, gagwise — nan Oscar broadcast is fundamentally a drama pinch speeches — its hits-to-misses ratio was bully aliases amended than your mean “Saturday Night Live” episode.

O’Brien, whose persona is adjacent parts madness, sincerity, self-love and self-hate, would look to beryllium a cleanable big for a broadcast that needs to return things seriously, but not truthful earnestly that it alienates anyone who doesn’t beryllium to nan organization it celebrates — a show that exists some successful nan world of Hollywood and nan world extracurricular nan industry. In a classical Oscars gambit, nan broadcast began pinch a filmed conception successful which nan host, looking for illustration Amy Madigan’s Gladys successful “Weapons,” inserted himself into nan movies nominated for champion image and different awards — that included an animated O’Brien successful a “KPop Demon Hunters” clip — chased by a mob of children from 1 to nan different and into nan Dolby Theatre, wherever his speech began.

“I’m honored to beryllium nan past quality big of nan Academy Awards,” he said. “Next twelvemonth it’s going to beryllium a Waymo successful a tux.”

“When I hosted past year, Los Angeles was connected fire, but this twelvemonth everything’s going great,” O’Brien said, adding, “Tonight could get political. And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock; it’s astatine a Dave & Buster’s down nan street.” And it did often get political, done jokes aliases superior addresses to nan room, pinch various parties adding to nan attacks connected censorship, complacency and oligarch-controlled media.

Switching into his sincere mode, O’Brien noted nan world practice astatine nan awards, of collaborators “working difficult to make thing of beauty” and making a transportation for “collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of of qualities today, optimism.” Switching gears again, he imagined himself an Oscar recipient, crowned and robed and serenaded by Josh Groban. (“His Oscar triumph has been fated by God / He is nan greatest, conscionable cheque retired that bod … He promised my supplier my highest interest yet / Then blew each nan money connected this upland set.” His Oscar was delivered by a hawk.

As for nan awards, leaving nan champion image and lead acting awards for nan extremity of nan show of people makes hierarchical sense, but it’s besides nan carrot connected a instrumentality that draws nan spectator done to nan end. As if to revive perchance flagging liking on nan way, thing large would deed nan shape almost connected nan hour. There were storming numbers from “Sinners” and “KPop Demon Hunters.” Barbra Streisand closed nan “In Memoriam” segment, which Billy Crystal opened by honoring nan precocious Rob Reiner, by singing a verse of “The Way We Were” successful tribute to nan precocious Robert Redford. (She called him an “intellectual cowboy,” he called her “Babs,” “but successful a measurement that made maine laugh.”)

The show closed pinch different clip successful which O’Brien imagined himself being made Oscar big for life; though it was a dodge. Channeling nan last segment of “One Battle After Another,” he is brought to an agency wherever he winds up gassed and being shoved into a creamator earlier nan explanation connected nan agency doorway is changed to “Mr. Beast, big for life,” arsenic successful nan YouTuber. But imperishable big is not a bad idea.