It is a well-known joke that hosting the Oscars is one of the worst jobs in Hollywood. So when four-time host Jimmy Kimmel offered to give newcomer Conan O’Brien some pointers for the gig, O’Brien was all ears.
After O’Brien was announced as the host, Kimmel called the “Needs a Friend” podcaster and former late night star and asked if he would be interested in going to dinner with him and his wife Molly McNearney, who wrote for and executive produced the Academy Awards in 2024.
“I did have some old man tips, like try to sit down during the show, which is one of my tips,” Kimmel said on Tuesday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during his interview with O’Brien.
“Jimmy is obsessed with sitting down as much as possible, and his tips kept going back to ‘Try and sit down,’” O’Brien riffed. “What are you, Franklin Roosevelt?”
You can watch the full ABC clip, below:
When Kimmel asked who had the better tips — him or McNearney — O’Brien did not even let him finish the question before repeatedly answering “Molly.” “She had all these specific, great tips,” he said. “She just really knows the show. This guy was obsessed with only ordering appetizers … You were a complete waste of time.”
Kimmel then asked O’Brien if he has seen all the movies that were nominated. In turn, the comedian robotically answered, “I told People magazine that I’ve watched all 35. And that’s in print.”
“Some of them, if you know they didn’t have a chance or no one saw them, I didn’t watch them,” Kimmel admitted. O’Brien then scaled back his answer, saying that he’s seen “a lot of the movies.”
Repeatedly, O’Brien joked that the Oscars gig was not going as planned. He even started the interview by laughing painfully and declaring, “I made a mistake!” But all silliness and ribbing aside, O’Brien seemed excited to host the March 2 awards show, noting that there will be some surprises in store.
“We’re going to have a great show. We’re going to have a great time,” he said. “Things for me tend to come together very late, so I started working on the Oscars about four hours ago, and I’m going to pull an all-nighter.”
