We’re at least getting a trilogy of Jimmy Kimmel hosting the Oscars, as the late-night host has been announced as the emcee for the 95th Oscars, the third time he has handled the job. The Academy announced the news in a tweet:
Introducing your 95th Academy Awards host, Jimmy Kimmel. Welcome back!Tune into ABC to watch the Oscars LIVE on Sunday, March 12th at 8e/5p! #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/qdFZYFeE2rNovember 7, 2022
The Oscars are on ABC and with Kimmel hosting his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, on the network, both sides are very familiar with each other. Not to mention Kimmel’s past experience hosting this specific event in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018. There have been some memorable moments from Kimmel’s previous hosting gigs, including the infamous Best Picture gaff that had Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway being handed the wrong envelope and mistakenly announcing La La Land as the Best Picture winner before Moonlight was correctly announced.
Kimmel has been the host three of the last four times the Oscars have had a host, as after the 2018 ceremony the awards show went three years without one (while viewership was bigger in 2019 with no host than the Kimmel-hosted 2018 ceremony, no other hostless Oscars performed as well). The only other people to host the Oscars other than Kimmel in recent years was the trio of Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes at the 2022 ceremony, but those Oscars are going to be remembered for something else (the slap).
Also, now set to host the Oscars three times, Kimmel joins a group of only eight other people to host the Oscars three times or more. This includes Steve Martin, David Niven, Jerry Lewis (all three times), Whoop Goldberg, Jack Lemmon (both four times), Johnny Carson (five times), Billy Crystal (nine times) and Bob Hope (19 times).
The Hollywood Reporter quoted Kimmel speaking/joking about the announcement: "Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap. Either way, I’m grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no."
The timing of announcing Kimmel as the Oscar host is actually quite early, as The Oscars 2023 are taking place on Sunday, March 12. For comparison, Hall, Schumer and Sykes weren’t announced as the 2022 Oscar hosts until February, with that ceremony taking place on March 27, 2022.
We’ve still got a while to go before knowing what movies Kimmel is going to be talking about at the 2023 Oscars, as nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are going to be announced on January 24. But, movies that many people are predicting could be big players for this year’s top awards include Babylon, The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, TÁR, Top Gun: Maverick and more.
Again, The Oscars 2023 take place on Sunday, March 12, at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on ABC (1 am UK time).
