The movie season leading up to the 2024 Academy Awards provided four-time host Jimmy Kimmel with endless material for this year's opening monologue. Making his choice, the late-night comedian kicked off the night with a skit, complaining that he was hungry while sitting next to a tearful Margot Robbie in place of the old woman he called beautiful. Barbie.
When he finally took the stage, Kimmel kept his Barbie stan-dom going, marking one of the biggest snubs of the season: Greta Gerwig was not nominated for best director. As the room erupted in applause and agreement, he noted, “You're the ones who didn't vote for her, don't act like you had nothing to do with it.”
And while he had the platform at his disposal, Kimmel decided to shoot his shot with Ryan Gosling. “Ryan, you're so hot,” she gushes. “Let's go camping together and don't tell our wives.”
The 2024 Oscars started an hour earlier than usual, but about five minutes after they were scheduled to start tonight. Still, Kimmel took the time to zero in on each Best Picture nominee. He praised Messi, his star dog Anatomy of a fallfor his portrayal of a great Frenchman and Emma Stone for her portrayal of a grown woman with the mind of a child, a pair he compared to “the lady who gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union”.
The final segment of Kimmel's speech was devoted to the strikes that put Hollywood on hold for months into 2023. “We could be proud of the fact that this long and difficult work stoppage taught us that this very strange city of ours, as pretentious and superficial as it may be, at its heart it is a union town,” he said. “It's not just a bunch of Botox heavy, Hailey Bieber smoothie drinking, diabetic prescription abuse, gluten sensitive babies, with constantly shaking chihuahuas. This is a coalition of strong, hard-working, mentally tough American workers.”
With the biggest stars sitting in the audience, the host took a moment to honor those who haven't graced the red carpet but play an integral role in keeping the system moving.
“The reason we've been able to do the deals is because of the people rallying around us, so before we celebrate ourselves, let's give a much-deserved round of applause to the people working behind the scenes,” he shared, shouting out truck drivers, lighting crews and all the other groups of people who bring the movies to life. “In your coming negotiation, we will also be with you.”
Kimmel landed his first Oscars gig in 2017, the year of his infamous Moonlight vs La La Land mix. He returned for the 2018 ceremony and now, in his fourth gig, joins Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon as the show's only four-year-olds. If he is invited again in the future, he will be tied with five-time host Johnny Carson. The reigning Academy Awards champions are Bob Hope, who has presented 11 times, and Billy Crystal, who has hosted nine times.
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