Conan O'Brien tapped to host the 2025 Oscars

We have our 2025 Oscars host.

Conan O'Brien has been tapped to host the 97th Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday.

This will be the former late-night talk show host's first time hosting the Oscars, though he previously hosted the Emmys in 2002 and 2006.

"America demanded it and now it's happening: Taco Bell's new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I'm hosting the Oscars," the comedian joked in a statement.

Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang described O'Brien as the "perfect" host due to his "brilliant humor, his love of movies, and his live TV expertise." Executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan also said the comic has "all the qualities of a great Oscars host — he is incredibly witty, charismatic and funny and has proven himself to be a master of live event television."

The Oscars hosting job marks the most high-profile TV gig for O'Brien since he stepped away from his TBS show "Conan" in 2021. Since then, the "Late Night" alum has continued to host the interview podcast "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend," and he debuted a travel show, "Conan O'Brien Must Go," on Max in April.

Jimmy Kimmel most recently returned to host the Oscars for the fourth time in March after also serving as emcee in 2017, 2018 and 2023. In April, the late-night host revealed he was asked to host again in 2025 and didn't plan to accept, though he joked he might change his mind to spite President-elect Donald Trump, who slammed his performance.

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From 2019 to 2021, the Academy experimented with having no one host the Oscars at all, a format that initially came about after Kevin Hart stepped down from the job in 2018 due to backlash to his past homophobic tweets. After the 2019 Oscars without a host saw an increase in ratings, O'Brien joked he found this concerning.

"Today, people were saying maybe we don't need a host anymore. Do you know what that means to me? Do you know how terrifying that concept is? ... This is my livelihood they're talking about!"

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After three consecutive years with no one in the top job, the trio of Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer hosted the Oscars in 2022. Kimmel later argued that not having a single host may have been a mistake because it led to uncertainty about who should go out on stage and address Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.

Possible contenders for the 2025 Oscars include Angelina Jolie, Zoe Salda?a, Timothée Chalamet, Nicole Kidman and Denzel Washington, while "Dune: Part Two" and the upcoming "Wicked" movie could compete for best picture alongside the likes of "Anora," "Emilia Pérez," "Conclave" and "The Brutalist."

When are the 2025 Oscars?

The Oscars will air on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oscars 2025 host: Conan O'Brien tapped for gig