CAN WE TALK ABOUT?
JIMMY KIMMEL HOSTING THE OSCARS THIRD TIME’S A CHARM?
Comedian and late-night talk-show star Jimmy Kimmel will host the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on the evening of Sunday 12 March (or the small hours of Monday 13th for UK viewers). After previous hosting stints in 2017, the year of the La La Land/Moonlight mix-up, and 2018, this will be Kimmel’s third crack at fronting Hollywood’s biggest night.
‘How boring’ seemed to be the popular response on Film Twitter when Kimmel’s appointment was announced by the executive producers and showrunners of the Academy Awards, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner. Reverting to the single-host format marks a return to tradition after four years of the Oscars mixing it up in an effort to energise. From 2019-2021 they ditched having a host altogether, and then, in 2022, went with three: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes.
But now we have Kimmel, again, with his third appointment putting him alongside fellow three-peaters Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin, Conrad Nagel and David Niven. Only Whoopi Goldberg (4), Jack Lemmon (4), Johnny Carson (5), Billy Crystal (9) and Bob Hope (19) have notched more appearances.
“Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honour or a trap,” Kimmel said in a statement. “Either way,
I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”
He’s joking, of course. Or is he? Chris Rock was apparently the first choice, which would have marked the comedian’s own hat-trick
‘“HOW BORING” SEEMED TO BE THE POPULAR RESPONSE ON FILM TWITTER’
having served as emcee in 2005 and 2016.
In a stand-up show he performed in August in Phoenix, Arizona, Rock compared the invitation to being asked to return to the scene of a crime – last year he was on the receiving end of Will Smith’s infamous slap after making an ill-advised quip at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia.
Rock would have been a more incendiary choice, but you can’t blame the Academy for playing it safe – though Kimmel himself was at the centre of another awards-show storm earlier this year, accused of upstaging Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson during her Emmy-winner speech, an incident Kimmel later apologised for. Given the Oscars’ viewing figures were 16.6m last year and an all-time low of 10.4m the year before, a return to the 26.5m viewers that Kimmel coralled for the 2018 awards, while a long way from the 1998 high point of 55.3m, must be hoped for.
Officials have promised “an unforgettable experience”. Let’s hope they’re right.