Jimmy Kimmel Is Oscar Host for the 4th Time
With preparations underway for the 96th Oscar Awards, people with key roles are being finalized and announced.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jimmy Kimmel will return onstage for the fourth time at the Dolby Theatre. He’s all set to be the program’s host on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Previously, Jimmy took on the same role in 2017, 2018, and 2023.
He shares the distinction of being a four-time host for the Oscars with Whoopi Goldberg (1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002) and Jack Lemmon (1958, 1964, 1972, and 1985). The only celebrities who have hosted the show more than four times are Johnny Carson (five times), Billy Crystal (nine times), and Bob Hope (11 times).
Jimmy has an impressive history of hosting events like the Oscars. He is a three-time host for the Primetime Emmy Awards (2012, 2016, and 2020). According to the New York Times, his presence and humor helped grow the show’s viewers from 16.6 million in 2022 when Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall took center stage to nearly 19 million in 2023.
Recall that in 2021, the show did not have a host while viewership was at its lowest with only 10.4 million viewers. This was in stark contrast to the time before 2018 when the Oscar telecast always had more than 32 million people tuning in.
Jimmy also handled some of the awards’ most shocking and history-making incidents. In 2017, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the wrong results card. Due to the error, the pair made an incorrect announcement when it came to the Best Picture Award. Instead of announcing Moonlight as the winner of the night, they announced La La Land as the winner.
Jimmy was then asked to take on the critical role of correcting the mistake. He came forward and informed the cast that the rightful winner of the award was Moonlight. He even showed the inside of the envelope as evidence.
At that time, Jimmy tried to make light of the tense incident by joking, “I knew I would screw this up. I promise to never come back.” Despite his words, he returned as host the next year.
After Jimmy was announced as the 2023 ceremony’s host, the father of four gushed about how being invited again was such a great honor—or a trap. He mused, “Either way, I am grateful to the academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”
Aside from the pressure of maintaining, if not exceeding, the number of viewers, the role became less appealing after the Will Smith and Chris Rock slapping incident. Recall that during Chris Rock’s opening monologue, he ruffled Will’s feathers when he joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness due to her alopecia.
Ahead of the next biggest Hollywood gathering, Jimmy good-naturedly said to The Hollywood Reporter how he might react if someone tries to go on stage to hit him, “Well, I size them up, and if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s**t out of them on television. And if it’s the Rock, I run.”
