Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars Prank Forces Hollywood Stars to Mingle With Nonfamous Folk
Well, that was … different. While hosting the 89th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night, Jimmy Kimmel arranged to play a prank on a group of unsuspecting Los Angeles tourists. The group was on one of those tour buses that coast around Hollywood, hoping to catch a glimpse of a star or two — and never, ever do … until now. The bus dropped them off at the Dolby Theatre, where they were led directly to the stage. Kimmel had the lights turned down and instructed the well-heeled crowd to yell “Mahershala!” when the tourists arrived. The idea was to capture the shock and awe on the non-famous folk’s faces when they realized where they were — and that sort of happened — but they got over it pretty quickly, and were soon getting close (really close!) to many of the stars.
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A guy named Gary from Chicago seemed right at home beside Kimmel. When the host told Gary he didn’t need to film on his phone because the whole thing was being filmed for TV, he quipped, “But I want to.” And what Gary wants, apparently Gary gets. The host moved on, introducing Gary to Nicole Kidman, who was sitting about one foot in front of where he was standing. She graciously held out her hand to shake — and Gary kissed it! He also kissed Octavia Spencer‘s hand, Meryl Streep‘s hand, and grabbed a gift out of Ryan Gosling‘s hands while his fiancée, Vicky (they’re getting married this summer), got a hug from Viggo Mortensen.
At one point, Kimmel told Gary he felt as if Gary was “ignoring all the white celebrities,” prompting Gary to reply, “Yes, I am,” before he and Vicky took a selfie with Denzel Washington. Denzel officiated a short “wedding ceremony” for them, before Kimmel demanded that Jennifer Aniston hand over her sunglasses to the couple as a wedding gift. Seriously — this happened!
At that point, Kimmel was trying to sell Gary and Vicky on Casey Affleck, but they weren’t too impressed. Meanwhile, another woman from the tour chatted with Aniston, who kept smiling, even though she’d just had her glasses effectively removed from her in front of an auditorium of witnesses. Other people from the tour nabbed a few more selfies while Gary posed for a few more pics holding Mahershala Ali’s Oscar for best supporting actor. Oh, and Meryl Streep had to hug about 10 of the tourists too.
At that point, the regular folk were ushered out a side door, and all of the celebrities wondered how long they had to wait before pulling out the Purell.
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