Why Conan O’Brien Cut Jokes Backstage at Oscars 2025 - E! Online
Oscars 2025 host Conan O'Brien shared insight into his preparation—including that there were some pre-planned jokes that ended up on the cutting room floor during the ceremony.
Watch : Conan O’Brien’s Cheeky Reaction to Hosting the 2025 Oscars
Conan O’Brien’s 2025 Oscars routine was in the works right up until the last moment.
While the host’s emceeing act seemed effortless, it turns out his monologue—which took jabs at Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón and Timothee Chalamet—was meticulously curated.
"There's the agony of before—preparation, getting ready—and that goes on for months," he exclusively revealed to E! News at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscars party. "Then we worked so hard that by the time we got to the point where it was time to go, I couldn't wait. And it was a really great crowd. They were laughers, thank God."
But even with the preparation there were some jokes that, in the moment, Conan opted to leave out.
"There are times where you think, 'We've got a good joke here, but I'm not gonna do it. It doesn't feel right,'" he revealed. "So we made a lot of changes backstage. You just decide, 'Oh this is a better joke,' or you think of something in the moment, and you just go with it, and those can be blessings." (For more from the Vanity Fair party, tune into E! News tonight, Mar. 3 at 11p.m.)
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But, the 61-year-old is generally happy with his performance.
"I'm letting people compliment me," he joked. "I was really happy with how it went. It's an honor to be asked to do it, and I'm just happy that people seem very pleased. And now I'm really happy to sleep for two weeks."
Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty Images
Conan's hosting triumph comes as a bittersweet moment in his life, occurring just over two months after the deaths of both his parents: Thomas F. O’Brien, who passed away Dec. 9 at age 95, and his mom Ruth Reardon O’Brien, who died three days later at age 92.
“I think what my mother and father saw in each other was that they were kindred spirits,” he told the Boston Globe in December. “They were incredibly hard-working and disciplined.”
The late night veteran also highlighted what made his mom and dad unique as individuals.
“My dad was the dreamer,” he recalled. “My dad was the one who was saying, ‘I’m off to Peru with a change of clothes in my briefcase to try and launch this website for a hospital there high in the mountains.’”
While his mother was “doing all this mom stuff, and when that was done, rushing into a phone booth and becoming Ruth O’Brien, second woman partner at Ropes & Gray.”
Rich Fury/Getty Images
But amid his grief, Conan remained upbeat about hosting the Oscars, noting the pressure to deliver big laughs in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.
“There's no such thing as getting to a point professionally where there are no nerves if you’re working in comedy,” he told People. “I am very aware that it's an iconic show and can be tricky... I like to meet a challenge.”
For more highlights from the 2025 Oscars, keep reading.
--Reporting by Sharon Carpenter
Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images
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Lisa Steals a Quiet Moment Backstage
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Margaret Qualley, Elle Fanning Catch Up Backstage
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