“We’re super thrilled to have Jimmy score his hat trick on this global stage. We know he will be funny and ready for anything!” said executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner. (Read More Here).
The Academy, under near leadership with CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang, have indicated that their aim was to lock a host much earlier than in years past. Last year’s hosts — Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall — were not announced until mid-February for the March 27, 2022 show. Weiss and Kirshner were announced in producers in September, and given the decades of live TV experience between them and Kimmel, Kramer and his team seem to be focused on reliability for the upcoming Oscars. As Kramer told VF in August, “We want to return to a show that has reverence for film and 95 years of the Oscars.”
Kimmel seems to have a change of heart from how he felt soon after his back-to-back hosting gigs when he said on a panel at TCA that he felt hosting was a “no win” situation. “It’s a very difficult job. Even when it seems like it was great, you go home and you’re like, ‘Oh, some people didn’t think it was great.’ If you don’t care what people will say, I think it’s a good gig,” he said at the time.
Kimmel, who also hosted the Emmys in 2012, 2016 and 2020, has led ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003, and recently renewed his contract for another three years, making him one of the longest-running talk show hosts in American television history.
Several other comedians have hosted the Oscars three times, including Steve Martin and Jerry Lewis — though they and Kimmel come nowhere close to Bob Hope’s record of hosting the show 19 times. (Read More Here).
Jimmy Kimmel is returning to the Oscar stage.
The ABC late night host has signed on to host the 95th Oscars, marking his third time in the role.
The announcement follows the Sept. 17 reveal that award show veterans Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner will be producing the ceremony. Their hiring signaled the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ commitment to having producers with “live TV expertise” back at the helm, one of several goals that the Academy’s newly hired CEO, Bill Kramer, had shared during an August call with journalists. (The 2021 and 2022 telecasts were produced by film director Steven Soderbergh and film producer Will Packer, respectively.) Kimmel’s wife and Jimmy Kimmel Live co-head writer and longtime executive producer, Molly McNearney, will executive produce the 95th Oscars as well.
In September, Kramer and Janet Yang, the Academy’s newly elected president, hosted an all-member meeting where past and present telecasts were discussed. “From our recent member survey, we learned from our Academy members that they did not love the 94th Oscars,” Kramer acknowledged to members, prompting laughter. “It had a 20 percent positivity rating from Academy members, compared to 61 percent for the 92nd; only 2 percent liked the Fan Favorite; only 17 percent approved of the pre-recorded awards; and fewer Academy members are watching the full show — 67 percent for the 92nd, 59 percent for the 94th.” He vowed to address their concerns, noting that the Academy, in its discussions with ABC, was committed to “honoring all crafts and disciplines on air” during the Oscars telecast, garnering big applause in the room.
In the past, Kimmel has called hosting the Oscars a “highlight of [his] career.” Making the announcement in early November — as opposed to mid-February, which is when the 2022 hosts were revealed — ensures that he and his producers will have plenty of time to prepare. On that August call with journalists, Kramer acknowledged that the Academy would also benefit from hiring its telecast producers and host earlier than in years past, and from locking them up for multiyear commitments so that new people don’t have to learn the jobs from scratch each year. It is unclear if Weiss and Kirshner or Kimmel have signed on for more than one year.
“Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,” joked Kimmel. “Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”
Discover more from KossyDerrickent
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
