We’re only a few days away from the Oscars, and host Jimmy Kimmel is out on the press circuit publicizing the show and his upcoming job as host of the ceremonies. Turns out Kimmel sought out a veteran comedy actor and former host for advice on how to do the job.
Kimmel announced he had a simple plan for hosting the Oscars this year, per CNN, and that’s to just “tell jokes.” That’s right, he’s not going to rely on musical numbers or gimmicks during the telecast (although there will probably be some surprises), he wants to bring things back to basics.
“I don’t have a lot of talents, so there’s not a huge number of areas for me to draw from outside of telling jokes,” he said. “I mean, I am pretty good at drawing cartoons, so I guess I could sit down and do caricatures of the stars?”
The advice on hosting the show came from none other than previous Oscars host and comedy legend Billy Crystal.
“The best advice I got about hosting the Oscars was from Billy Crystal, who told me, ‘Play to the room.’ You always have to be conscious of the audience at home and make sure they understand what’s going on, but you also want to get laughs in the room — and if you don’t get that, it’s not going to play well for people watching on TV.”
This meat and potatoes is probably a good approach considering last year was overshadowed by a slap-crazy Will Smith. What would Kimmel do if something like that happened to him this year?
“Well, I size them up, and, if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s— out of them on television. And if it’s the Rock, I run,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. Kimmel’s actually not a stranger to things going wrong during the telecast. He was the host in 2018 when the movie La La Land was announced even though Moonlight won best picture.
The 95th Academy Awards will air live on March 12.