Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the Oscars for a fourth time Sunday night, kicking off the show with a monologue that poked fun of everything from the writers and actors strike, the length of the nominated films and more.
The success of Barbie was a major portion of the monologue, particularly Greta Gerwig’s lack of a Best Director nomination. When he noted that most people thought she should deserved to get a nod, she got a round of applause, at which point Kimmel shot back, “I know you’re clapping but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this.”
Robert Downey Jr.‘s past addiction problems were also at the center of some of the jokes, with Kimmel joking the night was “the highest point in Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career,” before adding, “one of the highest points.”
And while Kimmel largely steered clear of political jokes, he got at least one in.
When talking about Emma Stone’s Poor Things character he cracked, “Emma played an adult woman with the brain of a child, like the lady who gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union on Thursday night,” referring to Alabama senator Katie Britt.
He also called out the length of many of this year’s nominated films, mentioning that the average length of the top 10 movies was two hours and 23 minutes. Speaking of Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon in particular he noted, “in the time it takes you to watch it you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.”
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