Conan O’Brien returned as emcee of the 2026 Oscars on Sunday (March 15) and delivered a ton of jokes in his eventful opening. He channeled Gladys from Weapons to march through a menagerie of the Best Picture nominee scenes, he bailed Timothée Chalamet out of his ballet-opera diss situation with some gentle humor, he put a multitude of Michael B. Jordan‘s in as seat fillers, he got Leonardo DiCaprio to do a live meme, and made a Trump-Epstein joke that had the whole audience groaning. His most poignant moment of the monologue, though, was when he hit a more serious note and issued a touching political statement.
Tonight is an international event. If I can be serious for just a moment, everyone watching right now around the world is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frustrating times. It’s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant. Check it out: 31 countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something beautiful. We pay tribute tonight not just to film, but to the ideal global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience, and that rarest of qualities today: optimism. So let us please celebrate,” O’Brien said after the spirited, 15-minute intro.
O’Brien, who hosted the Oscars in 2025 as well, took the stage alongside a slew of children cosplaying as the Weapons kids and started things out on a funnier note. “Last year, when I hosted, Los Angeles was on fire, but this year, everything’s going great,” he joked. “Security is extremely tight tonight. Just gonna mention that. I’m told there’s concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.” At that, the camera panned to Chalamet, who laughed at the dig over his big gaffe.
He also ribbed on Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos by saying it was his first time in a theater and joked that Best Actress nominee Rose Byrne, who shared the screen with him in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, showed remarkable restraint by not crushing on her costar, him.
The joke that got the most audible reaction from the celebrity crowd, though, was his take on the Jeffrey Epstein files scandals. “It’s the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress. A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles,’” O’Brien said.
Oscar’s host Conan O’Brien made several small but pointed political jokes during his opening monologue at the awards show
He warned that the evening might get “political,” but that if anyone felt “uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock – it’s at the Dave and Busters down the street. Lot of tickets to that.”
Rightwing political and media figures had criticize the NFL for picking Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, leading to Turning Point USA to host its own show, the “All-American Halftime Show,” which was headlined by Kid Rock.
Why It Matters
The Oscars often draw an immense crowd, with the 2025 Oscars pulling in 18 million viewers – although that marked the first time in over 40 years that the Oscars drew an audience below 30 million, with some arguing that the increased use of digital platforms might have dented the live TV figures.
With that major public platform, actors and presenters will use their opportunity to make political statements, although the hosts often stay away from more overtly political statements. O’Brien in comments to Rolling Stone earlier this year, talked about the nature of comedy in the face of an increasingly polarized political landscape, said that it has been “challenging” and that too many comedians have “put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”
