“The image of Oscar is very important to them” — Conan O'Brien reveals some of his jokes that weren’t approved by the Academy

On March 13, 2025, Conan O'Brien revealed on his Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences strictly supervised his jokes during hosting. The comedian revealed there were certain jokes the Oscars barred due to the tight-gripped organization on their reputation. During the ceremony, he aimed for several stars, including Karla Sofía Gascón and Timothée Chalamet, among others.

This year's Oscars took place on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Speaking about preparing for the show, Conan O'Brien said on his podcast:

"The whole thing is fascinating. They are very serious about certain things. I don't fault them. This is what they do. The image of Oscar is very important to them."

The 61-year-old was announced as the host in November.

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Conan O'Brien shares which jokes of his were rejected by the Academy in podcast

During the 40-minute-long episode available for listeners on YouTube, the television host shared that he wanted to joke about his unhappy marriage with the Oscar statue. He revealed that the suggestion was quickly dismissed by the Academy committee. Conan O'Brien explained:

"Of course, the Oscar's not doing anything. It's just standing there like a statue, and I'm saying- 'What happened to our marriage?' And we're fighting about things that couples fight about."

He added:

"At one point, I thought, 'Oh, this would be really great if the Oscar was just on the couch.' Let's just lay it on a really big couch and I'll be vacuuming and say, 'Could you at least lift your feet?' or 'Could you at least get up and help load the dishwasher?' And we wanted to do it, and they just said, 'No, no, no. That can't happen.'"

Conan O'Brien also shared in his podcast that he learned that the award can never be placed horizontally. Commenting on it, he said,

"That blew my mind."

The Oscars' head writer, Mike Sweeney, also appeared on the podcast to reveal the Academy did not allow them to put an apron on the Oscar as the committee rules that there should never be any clothing on the award and that it "is always naked." Speaking about the same, O'Brien said:

"There's a lot of rules with Oscar. And then you realize, 'Oh, this award ceremony has been around since 1929." There's a lot of different sort of shorthand for what can and can't happen."

While speaking to E! News on March 2, the Oscar host revealed that his jokes were changed until the eleventh hour. Addressing how jokes were changed backstage, Conan O'Brien shared:

"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."

He particularly mentioned his Adam Sandler and Timothée Chalamet bit at the Oscars. Conan O'Brien revealed that lots of practice went on to perfect the moment. O'Brien said:

"There's the agony of before- preparation, getting ready- and that goes on for months. 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. There were laughs, thank God."

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The Oscars aired on ABC this year, with Anora winning Best Picture, Mikey Madison taking home the Best Actress award and Adrien Brody nabbing the Best Actress Award.