Conan O’Brien is going for the gold.
“I do believe in my heart that one day I will win an Oscar. I really do,” the five-time Emmy® Award-winning television host, writer, producer, and comedian said with mock seriousness. “I’m not an actor; never been trained. I don’t really aspire to make movies, but I know I’m going to get an Oscar. Therapists call this a ‘delusion,’ but I really think I’m going to get one, and I think it’s going to happen sometime in the next five years… I plan to steal one.”
That’s the kind of deadpan, hopeful humor audiences can expect when O’Brien hosts the 97th Oscars live on ABC and Hulu this Sunday, March 2, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Lauded for “his brilliant humor, his love of movies, and his live TV expertise,” according to Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang, O’Brien is no stranger to the highwire act of hosting a live awards show. But… he’s never hosted the Oscars before.
“I hosted The Emmys twice. I believe I hosted the MTV Movie Awards nine times. I hosted the Soul Train Awards. But The Oscars, it’s the pinnacle,” O’Brien explained. “It’s the one that you most look up to. It’s the one you dream about hosting when you’re a child, so it has great meaning for me to host the Oscars—as long as the pay is good. I’m looking into that.”
As for how he’s preparing for the Academy Awards®, O’Brien is playing it cool.
“My biggest goal is to enjoy the nine hours of the Oscars telecast,” he joked of the three-hour ceremony, which will follow an official red carpet pre-show that beings at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, only on ABC and Hulu. “I really want to enjoy it. I think it would be a shame to get the chance to host the Oscars and not have a good time, so I’ll be medicated.”
And if things don’t go as planned, well… O’Brien has a plan for that.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned after all these years of hosting is that mistakes aren’t mistakes. If something goes wrong, if there’s a mishap of some kind, if something strange happens, that’s actually a gift. Go with it. Acknowledge it. Maybe have fun with it — hopefully have fun with it,” he said. “I think a big misconception is that you’re hoping everything goes perfectly. I hope that things sometimes go a little off the rails, because that’s where the memorable moments happen in late-night television and on the Oscars.”
“So,” O’Brien concluded, “I’m going to plan for some terrible, terrible mistakes.”