Stars Who Hosted The Academy Awards – Hollywood Life

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Jimmy Kimmel will host the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, 2023. This will be the third time the famous comedian and late-night talk show host has hosted the Oscars. He previously took on the role as host in 2017 and 2018. Jimmy was announced as host of the 2023 Academy Awards on November 7, 2022, four months before the star-studded show airs on ABC.

The Academy Awards resumed hiring hosts for the show last year Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykesand Regina Hall, after three consecutive years of no hosts. The 2019 Academy Awards made history as host-free for the first time since 1989. It wasn’t originally planned that way. Kevin Hart was previously signed up for the gig, but before long Twitter users began resurfacing years-old homophobic tweets. Kevin then stepped down from the role amid the backlash against him and no one stepped in to take the gig. The show continued without a host to continue the grueling three to four hour broadcast for the next two years, until the hosts returned for the 2022 Academy Awards where Will Smith notoriously slapped Chris Rock.

The 2023 Academy Awards will celebrate the best in film released this year as Jimmy entertains the crowd and everyone watching at home with his monologue and anticipated sketches. Here’s a list of stars who have taken on Oscar hosting duties over the years with varying degrees of success.

Jimmy Kimmel: 2017, 2018 and 2023

ABC was pleased with the network’s late-night talk show host’s performance in 2017, particularly how he handled the debacle of La La Land mistakenly named Best Picture over the actual winner Moonlight. It deserved it Jimmy Kimmel a second time hosting back-to-back ceremonies, returning in 2018. Thanks to his home base in Hollywood and his close circle of A-list friends, Jimmy was right at home in front of the star-studded Oscars audience. That helped too Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s head writer – and Jimmy’s wife – Molly McNearney took over the broadcast’s writing duties to keep the show’s humor current and hip.

For the 2023 Academy Awards, Jimmy will host while his wife Molly will produce the show along with showrunners Glenn Weiss and Richie Kirshner. “Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,” Jimmy said in a statement. “In any case, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone had said no.”

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes: 2022

They just need to do better than last year’s hosts… 😉

Catch @MoreReginaHall, @amyschumer and @iamwandasykes host the #Oscars LIVE Sunday 27 March @ABCNetwerk! pic.twitter.com/inzA0r0ef5

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 10, 2022

Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykesand Regina Hall co-hosted the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022. The trio did an amazing job hosting the show, but things went haywire when Will Smith took the stage and slapped Chris Rock, who made a joke about Will’s wife. Jada Pinkett Smith‘s bald head. Still, Amy, Wanda and Regina were praised for their performance at the 2022 Oscars.

Chris Rock: 2005 and 2016

Chris Rock had the unenviable task of presenting at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016, the year there were no nominations for actors of color. As a result, the Black comedian had to address the #OscarsSoWhite elephant in the room. He tore into the subject in his monologue, jokingly referring to the ceremony as the “White People’s Choice Awards.” He added that in recent years there has not been an uproar about the lack of diversity because “we had real things to protest; we’re too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.” He also added: “This year, in the In Memoriam package, it’s only going to be black people who were shot by the police on their way to the movies.”

Neil Patrick Harris: 2015

Neil Patrick Harris was already a veteran of hosting several Tony Awards telecasts, and brought his singing and dancing skills to the Oscars. Actress Anna Kendrick joined him on stage for a lively musical opening number, and seemed to be enjoying hosting the show. That was, until he read Twitter afterward. NPH appeared later on Jimmy Kimmel Live and said he would never host the show again after checking Twitter and finding “Uniform hate” from his hosting duties. He continued to the Huffington Post, “I don’t know that my family or my soul could take it. It’s an animal. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandably idiosyncratic response, I don’t know that it’s a lovely balance to do every year or even again.”

Ellen DeGeneres: 2007 and 2014

Back then daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres was still known as the “Queen of Nice,” the upbeat comedian was asked in 2014 after hosting the show in 2007. Rather than poke fun at the Oscars or deliver any controversial jokes, she mixed and mingled with her A-list front row audience. Ellen collected notoriety Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Lupita Nyong’o and more together for a massive celebrity selfie. She later had boxes of pizzas brought in which she served to the same hungry movie stars, with Brad Pitt even helping hand out paper napkins and plates.

Seth McFarlane: 2013

add Family guy creator Seth McFarlane to the list of hosts who never want the job again. He did a disastrous and misogynistic song and dance number called “We Saw Your Boobs”, where Seth mentioned actresses and the movies where they appeared topless. Seth also joked about Kim Kardashian’‘s “dark facial hair.” He later told Entertainment Weekly, “It’s a format that’s about as current as the 1950s variety show format. There’s always an effort to make it interesting and exciting for viewers who are used to a very different entertainment landscape in the modern era, and that’s often fitting a square peg into a round hole. So it’s not an easy job, and I’m not surprised that they find it difficult to get takers.”

Billy Crystal: 2012 plus eight other times as host

After the total disaster that was Anne Hathaway and James Franco’co-hosting duties of the Oscars in 2011, the Academy brought back “safe” stalwart Billy Crystal, to their first choice Eddie Murphy withdrew from the performance. He reigned seven times as host of the show between 1990 and 2000, and was a familiar and beloved presence to the audience and viewers. But Billy played it too safe that it was boring. Washington Post critic Hank Stuever wrote that Billy “appears to be overseeing a cruise ship dinner show designed to appeal to the over-50 travel club,” adding that, “Early on the rocks, it hit the rocks and began to list. Almost all of them drowned.”

Anne Hathaway and James Franco: 2011

Anne Hathaway unfortunately had a very difficult road when she co-hosted the show James Franco in 2011. The two were poorly matched thanks to Franco’s total lack of enthusiasm, which Hathaway then tried to overcompensate for with a ton of energy. And the worst part is the Ocean’s 8 star didn’t even want to host! “Can I make tea?” Hathaway tells People, in an interview published on February 10, 2019. “I turned down that gig, and James is the one who convinced me to do it.” She then added that she probably would have been fine with Franco admitting it was all a joke. ‘If he turned around and said, ‘I’m kidding you now.’ I think I would have been okay with that. I would have been like, ‘It’s bad, but it’s epic,'” she said. “When all the dust settled, I was just like, you’ve got to be kidding me. Your first instinct is usually the right one, and all the reasons why I dismissed it came true.”

The 94th Academy Awards air Sunday, March 27 at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST on ABC.