It’s Oscar night, and TV funnyman Conan O’Brien is taking the stage as host of the 97th annual Academy Awards as the 2025 nominees compete for top honors.
O’Brien inherits hosting duties from fellow comedian and late-night star Jimmy Kimmel, who presided over the Oscars four times before.
“America demanded it and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars,” O’Brien said in a statement when he was announced as host.
The Oscars ceremony will broadcast on ABC tonight from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, in Los Angeles, beginning at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).
Who is Conan O’Brien?
Conan O’Brien is best known for hosting the late-night talk shows “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.”
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O’Brien, now 61, spent nearly three decades as a late-night host. In 2015, he became the “longest-working current late night talk show host” in the U.S., following David Letterman’s retirement, according to TBS.
This will be his first time as the Oscar host, but he has done the honors for other high-profile awards shows, including hosting the Emmys in 2002 and 2006.
Before he became a well-known TV personality, O’Brien was a writer for “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.”
Who hosted the Oscars in the past?
O’Brien is joining an illustrious list of Oscar hosts that includes the likes of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, David Letterman, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Hugh Jackman and Neil Patrick Harris.
“He joins an iconic roster of comedy greats who have served in this role, and we are so lucky to have him center stage for the Oscars,” said Craig Erwich, president of the Disney Television Group, when O’Brien was named.
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Jimmy Kimmel, Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon have each hosted the show four times, while three-timers include Jerry Lewis and David Niven.
Carson hosted five times and Crystal hosted for the ninth time in 2012.
Bob Hope holds the record for the most times hosting the Oscars, serving as master of ceremonies 19 times.
In 2014, Ellen DeGeneres, in her second time hosting the Academy Awards, set a record for the most retweets with a celebrity-packed selfie that included Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep.
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However, not all hosting choices work out quite as well.
When Anne Hathaway co-hosted the ceremony with James Franco in 2012, it was widely panned as the Academy’s awkward attempt to attract younger viewers.
In 2018, the Hollywood Reporter called being the Oscars host “the least wanted job in Hollywood” following Kevin Hart’s sudden departure ahead of his planned 2019 hosting duties, amid controversy over some past comments.
That year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided against having a host for the first time in 30 years and didn’t have an official host again until 2022, when Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes co-hosted the ceremony. That show, however, was overshadowed by Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face onstage over a joke Rock made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
