The definitive ranking of every Oscar host, from Billy and Bob to Jimmy and Johnny: What about Conan?
Originally published Feb. 25 at 6 a.m. PT; updated March 3 at 11:30 a.m. PT
Hosting the Oscars has always been the trickiest gig in showbiz. Imagine it: You're obliged to preside over a crowd of professionals who are both nervous that they will lose or that they may win and have to give a heartfelt speech that hits all the write notes and thanks all the right people. Only about 20 percent of them will leave carrying a trophy. The other 80 percent will cart off only disappointment. As the host, it's your job to make them laugh — or at least make them think about something other than the fact this is The Biggest Night of Their Lives when either massive success or utter failure will come calling. Even if you're impossibly charming and hilarious, much of their mind will be someplace else.
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You'll be prepping to ace this gig for weeks, if not months. And threading this comedic needle can be extraordinarily arduous. You have to be clever and cheeky without being disrespectful or you can lose the room and your reputation in a flash. And if you're overly earnest, that can be equally deadly. Plus, so many factors are out of your control. Just ask Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes, whose 2022 hosting stint was completely overshadowed by a fellow named Will Smith. How did the most recent host, Conan O'Brien, do as the ringleader of the 2025 ceremony?
SEEOscar hosts: Performers who have hosted the Academy Awards
Finding the right person for the host job has proven to be an annual challenge. Being a successful comedian is hardly a guarantee of success. (Hello, David Letterman.) But some have taken to the job as if born for it, like Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg, who came away not only unscathed but with their renown enhanced.
Here is our look back at the hosts with the most ... and the least, ranked from worst to first:
18. Chevy Chase (1987 with Paul Hogan and Goldie Hawn, 1988 solo)
It was a bit miraculous that Chase was even tapped to host and co-host the Oscars, given his reputation as a guy no one wanted to work with. But he got the opportunity to do it in '88 — during a WGA strike — the year before National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation came out. He had the honor of losing the audience with literally his opening line: "Good evening, Hollywood phonies." It didn't get much better from there.
17. James Franco and Anne Hathaway (2011)
It seemed like a great idea at the time to pair two of Hollywood's most beautiful people and prominent names. But when it came to Franco and Hathaway, chemistry took a holiday. They were awkward from the get-go, with a game and enthusiastic Hathaway doing her best to save things only to be consistently undercut by a charisma-free, too-cool-for-the-room Franco. Every time Franco looked at the camera, his eyes seemed to pleased to his agent, "Please get me out of this thing." Too late.
16. Seth MacFarlane (2013)
Drafting the genius behind the anything-goes, over-the-top madness that is Family Guy to host the Academy Awards was never going to be a home run. The most you could hope for was a few exceedingly clever moments surrounded by some sophomoric, borderline-obnoxious bits. That's pretty much what MacFarlane delivered, the nadir coming with the proudly crude opening song-and-dance number "We Saw Your Boobs." The New York Times branded his gags as "hostile, ugly, and sexist." But again, this one's on the Film Academy for hiring him in the first place.
15. David Letterman (1995)
There was the sense right off the top that Letterman, a perpetually anxiety-riddled and self-loathing guy, wasn't fully comfortable up there. And he compounded it by making the mistake that the Oscar room and his typical Late Show audience were pretty much the same. Unfortunately, that same mocking schtick fell flat, culminating in the infamous "Oprah. Uma. Uma. Oprah. Have you kids met Keanu?" moment. The audience subsequently abandoned him, along with his shaken confidence.
14. Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes (2022)
After so many years of male-heavy humor on the Oscar stage, it was refreshing to welcome a trio of powerhouse hosts harboring plenty of estrogen. They gamely held their own with some well-targeted barbs at Hollywood. But irony of ironies, they were ultimately overshadowed by Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock late in the show. The hosts otherwise worked well together, a good idea that delivered on their promise. But sometimes, no matter what you do, the Will of the people (so to speak) dominates.
13. David Niven (1958-59, 1974)
No one ever hosted the Oscars with class and poise than Niven, the British actor for whom elegance was baked into his DNA. His status as a ceremony legend was cemented in 1974 at the height of the streaking craze in America. When a streaker came scampering across the stage naked, Niven, with typical grace, quipped, "Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings." It instantly became an indelible piece of Oscar lore, thanks to Niven's lightning-quick wit.
12. Neil Patrick Harris (2015)
It's no mystery why Harris would be tabbed to host the Academy Awards. He was impossibly charming while overseeing four Tony Awards ceremonies and a pair of Emmycasts. Of course, the Oscars is, once again, different from all the rest. While he sometimes appeared stiff at the helm here and endured several gags that never paid off, he also nailed a showstopping opening number and demonstrated uncommon courage in once introducing presenters clad only in his underwear — and briefs at that.
11. Johnny Carson (1979-82, 1984)
The King of Late Night — a five-time Oscar host — proved steady and funny, striking just the right balance of humor and respect for the institution. If he didn't break any new emcee ground, he also never set it back. "I see a lot of new faces here," he said one year during his monologue, "especially on the old faces." Carson's mainstream instincts served him well here. He poked as much fun at himself as he did the nominated stars and their movies, and that always goes over well with a crowd that's in no mood to be mocked.
10. Jon Stewart (2006, 2008)
Stewart, the longtime Daily Show stalwart, was the first host to successfully introduce satire to the Academy Awards stage (making it work where MacFarlane and Letterman failed). He took the stage with confidence and demonstrated that he wasn't intimidated by the job, which was why he was asked back to do it a second time two years later and address the writers' strike in a supportive way that also spared no one. He hit hard, but he also knew where the line was and never crossed it while celebrating the finest film had to offer.
9. Chris Rock (2005, 2016)
Years before he would make headlines for being the onstage target of Will Smith's ire, Rock was holding down the stage and dishing jokes that few others would attempt. He attacked the Oscars in '16 at the height of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy with relish. "Well, I'm here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People's Choice Awards," he opened the show, to modest applause. "You know if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job." He called out Hollywood and made it biting and amusing rather than angry and bitter. He had the audience on his side from the start and it never left him.
8. Steve Martin (2001 and 2003 solo, 2010 with Alec Baldwin)
Martin employed his trademark goofball energy to great benefit in his trio of Oscar hosting stints, the last one tag-teaming with Baldwin. Notably, the solo gigs worked better for the Father of the Bride star, whose comic timing with Baldwin was off. "All of us are here today for a single common love: publicity," Martin said in his 2001 monologue. "I love welcoming the young stars to show business because it reminds me of my own death." Pointed and funny, but also undeniably true. When he's on, no one is more charming.
7. Ellen DeGeneres (2007, 2014)
Long before she was excoriated for offscreen behavior with her talk-show staff, DeGeneres proved herself a remarkably adept host during both of her turns holding the hoist reins — incorporating lots of modern touches to keep things humming. The pièce de résistance, of course, was snapping a star-studded selfie that broke the internet in 2014 and featured Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, and Angelina Jolie. She also ordered pizza for everyone that same year. In lesser hands, it would have come off as bizarre. But she made it work.
6. Hugh Jackman (2009)
He's not the Greatest Showman for nothing. In his lone hosting stint, Jackman delievered an effervescent song-and-dance tornado of effortless savoir faire. What made it so thrilling was the feeling of the unpredictable, that at any moment he might scoop up someone from their seat (like, say, Anne Hathaway) and join him in a number. No one brought more musical flair to the Oscar stage than this guy, and his opening tribute to the nominated films blew everyone away. Did that make it feel a bit more like the Tonys than the Oscars? Yes. But so what?
5. Conan O'Brien (2025)
Prior to his 15-minute Oscars monologue, O'Brien emerged from the back of Demi Moore, Best Actress nominee for The Substance, in a hilarious spoof of that body-horror film. The five-time Emmy-winning talk show host also took swipes at Oscar nominees like The Brutalist (for being too long), Conclave (for the way Ralph Fiennes pronounces his first name), and Anora (for using the F-word more than the publicist for embattled actress Karla Sofía Gascón). The monologue ended with a tongue-in-cheek musical number titled "I Won't Waste Time," in which O'Brien explained all of the ways in which he would keep the show moving.
4. Jimmy Kimmel (2017-18, 2020, 2024)
Yes, the late-night host who has presided over the Academy Awards more than any other human of late (four times in eight years) is one of the best of all time. He consistently displays a quick wit and isn't afraid to break the hosting mold, such as when he invited unknowing tourists into the theater in 2017, the same year as everything went haywire at the end with the La La Land-Moonlight fiasco (which he notably handled with remarkable calm). Kimmel's unflappability makes him a great go-to emcee whenever he's called upon to deliver.
3. Whoopi Goldberg (1994, 1996, 1999, 2002)
She was the first woman and first Black person to host the Academy Awards solo when she was hired for the task in '94, and Whoopi didn't disappoint. Her charm, fearless humor and multiple costume changes made her a consistent returnee to the stage (four times in nine years). Notably, Goldberg understood when to shut off the comedy spigot and allow a more poignant moment to take center stage, such as the year that Schindler's List swept the night. On the other hand, she never shrank from milking the laughs by traveling gloriously over the top in her wardrobe.
2. Bob Hope (1940-43, 1945-46, 1953, 1955, 1958-62, 1965-68, 1975 and 1978)
It's impossible not to rank Hope high on any list of Oscar hosts, as he emceed solo or with others literally half the ceremonies (19) between 1940 and 1978. Perhaps his most memorable line came in '75 when he opened with, "Welcome to the Academy Awards, as as they're known in my house, Passover." No one was ever smoother or full of mischief and mirth than was this guy, who capably represented the Oscar host era before more daring and hard-edged satire took the microphone.
1. Billy Crystal (1990-93, 1997-98, 2000, 2004, 2012)
The nine-time host and Mr. Saturday Night star also was Mister Oscar Night in the 1990s. He became synonymous with the show, a sublimely charismatic presence known for his wildly creative entrances and inventive song parody introductions to the night's Best Picture nominees. Many of Crystal's greatest moments are also the greatest in Oscar telecast history, which is why he was asked back repeatedly — until the advancing age of Oscar viewership necessitated his retirement. But nobody did it better. And when you think of the term "Oscar host," it's Billy's face that you see in your mind. Much of the reason why Crystal remains the gold standard as host is the sheer joy and exuberance he displayed while carrying out his emcee duties, which remain second to none.
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