Conan O’Brien Takes Aim at Karla Sofía Gascón in Oscar Monologue: ‘If You’re Going to Tweet About the Oscars, My Name Is Jimmy Kimmel’
Conan O’Brien kicked off the Oscars with a bang, opening his hosting debut with a monologue that poked fun at the films and stars nominated at Hollywood’s biggest night.
Before the jokes, in a pre-taped segment, O’Brien emerged from the back of Demi Moore’s body à la “The Substance” and crawled out, not necessarily younger or hotter, but at least in a tuxedo.
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“Hi, Demi. How are you?” O’Brien said when he walked onto the Dolby Theatre stage. “That was weird. Yeah, awkward. I’m missing some car keys.”
“Welcome to the 97th Academy Awards,” O’Brien went on. “It’s Hollywood’s biggest night that starts at four in the afternoon. Everyone here just had brunch — I don’t understand it.”
The host then addressed the elephant in the room: the controversy that erupted over “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón’s offensive social media posts.
“Little fact for you: ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times,” O’Brien said. “That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist.” O’Brien then pitched his voice up to imitate Gascón’s reps — “You tweeted WHAT?!” — then danced around the stage jovially.
The camera then cut to Gascón, who seemed to be in on the joke, making prayer hands. “Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel,” O’Brien quipped.
The comic had plenty of movie-specific one-liners that cracked up the audience of Hollywood A-listers.
“I loved ‘The Brutalist,’ I really did. I didn’t want it to end, and luckily, it didn’t,” O’Brien said. Then: “If you haven’t seen ‘Conclave,’ its logline is: A movie about the Catholic Church, but don’t worry.” Later on: “Another movie nominated for best picture is ‘I’m Still Here.’ Incredible film. It’s about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she called it the feel-good movie of the year.”
The host then turned to Timothée Chalamet, who he noted is “nominated for his portrayal of Bob Dylan” in “A Complete Unknown.” “Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly,” O’Brien joked.
He also touched on films that didn’t score Oscar nominations, like “Babygirl,” in which “Antonio Banderas plays a man who doesn’t know how to give his wife an orgasm,” O’Brien said. “He described it as the most challenging role of his career.”
Getting topical, O’Brien addressed the recent news that Amazon seized creative control of the 007 franchise. “They just announced the next James Bond. It’s Amazon Senior Vice President of Global Affairs Steve Belsky!” O’Brien said before a (potentially fictional) studio exec’s face popped up on screen. “Ladies love him!”
“Speaking of Amazon, we have some footage of Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos arriving tonight,” O’Brien said before rolling footage of a delivery man sloppily throwing a giant Amazon box on the red carpet.
O’Brien then did an extended bit with Adam Sandler, wearing a hoodie and basketball shorts in the audience. The monologue ended with him breaking out into an extravagant musical number.
O’Brien has never previously hosted the Academy Awards, but he helmed the Emmys ceremony twice, in 2002 and 2006. He also hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 2014.
A mainstay of late night television from 1993 to 2021, O’Brien hosted NBC’s “Late Night” and “The Tonight Show,” then TBS’ “Conan.” He has hosted the popular podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” since 2018, and he has a travel show, “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” on Max.
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