{"id":830713,"date":"2026-03-17T01:09:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/830713\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:09:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:09:36","slug":"how-oscar-producers-pulled-off-conan-obrien-sketches-tributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/830713\/","title":{"rendered":"How Oscar Producers Pulled Off Conan O’Brien Sketches, Tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThey weren\u2019t kidding at the end of last night\u2019s Oscars<\/a>: Conan O\u2019Brien, if you want it, the Academy Awards \u201chost for life\u201d job is yours \u2014 well, at least for the final two years of ABC\u2019s deal. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOh, that is no joke, Conan is host for life, yes,\u201d Walt Disney Television\u2019s Rob Mills, the executive vice president, unscripted and alternative entertainment who\u2019s in charge of the Oscars telecast, told Variety on Monday morning. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t even accepted yet. He\u2019s just being told. We\u2019re assuming that was not a comedy bit. We\u2019re going to treat that as if that was fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVariety got on the phone with Mills and others involved with the telecast on Monday to discuss some of the highlights and burning questions.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did that cold open come about with O\u2019Brien as Aunt Gladys from \u201cWeapons,\u201d passing through some of the year\u2019s biggest films?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was one of the more ambitious things that we\u2019ve done,\u201d said one insider, who added that production took place within the last three weeks. \u201cIt took a couple of days to shoot. It was a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid Mills: \u201cSometimes these jobs are like fantasy camp and to be working with Conan is always incredible. I remember those when he had special occasions, or when he hosted things like the Emmys, he would make these films, and they were great. When it was their 10th anniversary of \u2018Late Night,\u2019 he did one of those ones where he ran into the streets of New York, and literally, everybody\u2019s following him. It was sort of similar to this bit. He\u2019s always done these films that are great. And it also sort of reminded me of what Billy Crystal used to do. So it was great. It felt distinctly Conan, but also distinctly Oscar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tHow was the animated Conan-as-Aunt-Gladys inserted into \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tQuite simply, said a source, \u201cWe found an animation company that could pull this off very quickly!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere did those \u201cWeapons\u201d-like kids in the opening sketch come from?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThese are real child actors who were brought in via a casting call.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tWho were those multiple Michael B. Jordans in the audience?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was truly Michael B. Jordan, who loved the bit and came in last week to shoot himself reacting in multiple ways. \u201cOnce he got the idea, he said he was into it, came in and we had him there for a short time, and had him composited!\u201d a producer said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tDid Leonardo DiCaprio know that he was going to be asked to be a meme?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNot at all! So forgive him for being a bit confused at first on how to react \u2014 but then he still figured out how to react! \u201cI\u2019m sure anybody over the age of 30 was confused,\u201d quipped a source.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was Josh Groban\u2019s involvement in creating a song about Conan\u2019s dream acceptance speech?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of my all time favorite award show things was when Conan did the \u2018You Got Trouble\u2019 number when he hosted the Emmys,\u201d Mills said. \u201cLast year he did the \u201cI Won\u2019t Waste Time\u201d song. He loves a musical number. So, yeah, he thought of that. Remember, he did a film, he did a monologue. The song was so short that it was great. Conan clearly thought about this, because by the end of that, that first act, by the time you got to Zoe Salda\u00f1a, you did not feel like this has already been long. It moved. The film was brilliant, the monologue brilliant, and that song was brilliant. And very quick. He got the joke and then got right out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did it work to have Matt Berry serve as announcer, live from London? Why wasn\u2019t he here?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, Matt Berry was in London \u2014 and the technology is now at the point where there wasn\u2019t a delay. But why? \u201cI think they like the idea of this being so international. God bless him, he was at every rehearsal. I can\u2019t imagine all the different times he must have been up. I don\u2019t know exactly why he wasn\u2019t here, but I think they thought it was kind of cool that somebody was all the way across the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBerry was supposed to appear one more time on camera \u2014 but it was cut for time. Like his previous old timey reference to Basil Rathbone, this time he was going to shout out Cyd Charisse.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did Jane Lynch wind up in the YouTube ad parodies? Why a dangerous flashlight line? Was there a chance she\u2019d do more ads?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe producers were big on some of the pretapes this year. \u201cThe vertical video thing was smart too,\u201d said a producer. \u201cIdeas come up, and we used a lot this year. There happened to be a lot more pretape things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tThe set had a lot more green this year, and O\u2019Brien even made light of it with his leaf blower. Where did that design idea come from?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou just don\u2019t see a set with trees!\u201d said a producer. Added Mills: \u201cI think it looked really nice and [production designers] Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, do an amazing job. [Exec producer] Raj Kapoor has been doing these shows forever, and they really have an eye.\u201d And yes, the bit with Conan and the leaf blower killed in the room. \u201cI remember when we heard that was happening, that was one of those, \u2018oh, I can\u2019t wait to see what that\u2019s gonna look like,’\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did you pull off that \u201cPierce the Veil\u201d performance of \u201cI Lied to You\u201d? Why didn\u2019t we get to see more of Buddy Guy? Did they forget to give him a guitar at first?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it was one of those things where it was just you wanted something happening in every corner,\u201d Mills said. \u201cAnd yes, I agree. There aren\u2019t words to describe Buddy Guy. He is a genius, and certainly one of the inspirations for the entire movie. So I think it was just, they had so much going on everywhere that I think they wanted you to be looking everywhere. By the end, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh my gosh, there\u2019s Misty Copeland coming pirouetting through.\u2019 I mean, it\u2019s just that the number had everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tWas there an unusual amount of cursing on this year\u2019s show from winners? How did they miss \u201cFrankenstein\u201d costume designer Kate Hawley\u2019s \u201cshit\u201d? Later, ironically, one of the winners of the sound category (\u201cF1\u201d) also had to be bleeped!\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a hard job. I mean, you never want any of them to get by, but of all the expletives, \u2018shit\u2019 is sort of a little more minor league. Fortunately, they did catch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tThe In Memoriam once again omitted quite a few famous names<\/a>, causing more anger. How does that happen?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s the Academy\u2019s call on who ends up on the telecast, but \u201cIt is hard. I think it\u2019s the hardest thing they possibly do,\u201d Mills said. \u201cIt always is hard when they are sort of villainized for this. Yes, there\u2019s always people who are left out. Unfortunately, we\u2019re losing more and more people, and especially, we\u2019re losing legendary people every year, so it is probably the hardest needle to thread. I do think what they did last night might have been the best In Memoriam in the history of the Oscars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat happened to the \u201cGolden\u201d songwriters? It seemed like the orchestra didn\u2019t know another winner was about to speak, cutting him off.\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne thing, as we post mortem for next year, will be to look at how we\u2019re handling speeches,\u201d Mills said. \u201cYou win the Oscar, you know you go on stage, it could be one person, it could be five or six. Immediately you\u2019ll see the sort of allotted time we have for them. Do we need to look at it and say, okay, designate one person to speak. Maybe you continue it backstage, and we have a feed on social or something like that. We look at everything and figure out what is the most elegant solution, because it is difficult, especially when you\u2019re cutting somebody off and it\u2019s their one moment. We talk about it at the award luncheon, that you have this designated time to speak, and it\u2019s difficult. I don\u2019t know what the most elegant solution is, but it\u2019s obviously something we should look really, really long and hard at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tAlso, why was the \u201cGolden\u201d performance shortened? A full verse was cut, was that for time?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat was by design, that wasn\u2019t something that you can call an audible on, because those things are so well-rehearsed,\u201d Mills said. \u201cYes, they cut a verse. But I think certainly with the lead up and the production, you got a feeling of it. Probably what is the best thing musical number can accomplish is it makes you want to go and watch the movie again. I think both musical numbers, they really encapsulated both the sort of just the feeling of those movies, beyond just just the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was with the raucous documentary contingent in the audience?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think they were just excited that they were celebrated,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI\u2019m all for energy in the room. I thought that was great between a documentary contingency that was very excited for this night, and people really, really love \u2018Sinners\u2019 too. Anytime \u2018Sinners\u2019 was mentioned there was a lot of euphoria, which was really infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere did the idea come from for Conan to partner with Sterling K. Brown on a \u201cCasablanca\u201d twist?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe O\u2019Brien team brought the idea to Brown, and he was immediately game. The idea came together quickly over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tHow difficult was it to wrangle so many stars of Rob Reiner films?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTaryn Hurd, who does an incomparable job with this, she really worked night and day to get everybody there,\u201d Mills said. \u201cThere are people that she\u2019s told me she\u2019s dreamed of having at the Oscars forever, like John Cusack. He was somebody that she was dying to have and that we\u2019ll always talk about. Everybody wanted to pay pay tribute to Rob Reiner. There\u2019s obviously a few stars from from the movies missing, but I would say for the most part, you had almost everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tWas Barbra Streisand always just going to sing a snippet of \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRaj and [exec producer] Katy [Mullen] went to Barbra very early,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI think she agreed right away. Up until the week of it, it was okay, what is this going to be? How much is is this going to be spoken testimonial versus the singing. You have to remember, she did the entire song 13 or 14 years ago when Marvin Hamlisch passed away. I don\u2019t think you wanted to repeat the exact moment. Obviously Robert Redford was such a loss for everybody who enjoys films. think she wanted to make sure that that statement was impactful as well. And she also lost Alan Bergman this year too, who wrote all the music for \u2018Yentl,\u2019 and that was a big collaborator for her, too. I think she wanted to just make sure this really had impact, and I think she accomplished it beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tHow was Grogu being operated in the audience?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did not ask,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI never ask how the magic happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tThat Conan \u201chost for life\u201d sketch\/\u201dOne Battle After Another\u201d parody with Jim Downey came at the end of the Oscars. Has there ever been a post-telecast sketch on the Oscars? Did Conan film alts of the finale sketch in case another film one best picture?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst off, there were no alt end-of-show sketches. This \u201cOne Battle\u201d parody would have ran even if \u201cSinners\u201d had won. <\/p>\n

\n\tMills said O\u2019Brien\u2019s team pitched the end-of-show bit, which was really unusual for an Oscars. \u201cThey said, \u2018we really love it.\u2019 This is when it was they haven\u2019t even shot it yet,\u201d Mills said. \u201cObviously, knowing the fact that [legendary \u2018SNL\u2019 writer] Jim Downey played that role, and Conan gets to work with him. Downey\u2019s a hero to these guys, for anyone who came out of SNL. You\u2019re exactly right, this is the kind of thing that\u2019s the easiest thing to cut. It\u2019s pre-tape, it\u2019s going to save us, whatever it is, 90 seconds of air time. So I had to give them my word that this will never get cut. I also thought it was so clever. As time passes, you sort of forget about how many minutes or seconds you went over but you remember bits like this. I\u2019m thrilled we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tIs O\u2019Brien truly the pick for \u201chost for life\u201d? Or at least one more time, before it goes to YouTube and MrBeast really does take over? How firm is that offer?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs firm as, whatever, you can look up whatever the firmest thing is,\u201d Mills said. \u201cIt\u2019s solid as oak.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They weren\u2019t kidding at the end of last night\u2019s Oscars: Conan O\u2019Brien, if you want it, the Academy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,49071,77,14673,16,15],"class_list":["post-830713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-conan-obrien","tag-entertainment","tag-oscars","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116241850807852645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}