Conan O’Brien was not the first choice: These are the celebrities who declined hosting the 2025 Oscars

The Academy has struggled to find a suitable host for the Oscars. Some of the more experienced emcees are too old to appeal to a younger audience.

Andy Hall

Update: Feb 28th, 2025 17:51 EST

There was a time when finding and hiring someone to host the Oscars was relatively straightforward task. For years, popular hosts were invited back. Bob Hope hosted the ceremony 19 times, 14 of those on his own - no one has hosted the event more than him.

Follow all the information on the 2025 Oscars

But times have changed and for a number of reasons, the Academy has struggled to find a suitable host for its annual awards ceremony and some celebrities have even turned the offer down.

That seems to have been the case this year. Conan O’Brien will compere on Sunday but he was not the Academy’s first choice.

Conan O’Brien is officially your 97th Oscars host!

Tune into the biggest night in Hollywood on Sunday, March 2nd at 7e/4p, LIVE on @ABCNetwork! #Oscars @TeamCoco @ConanOBrien pic.twitter.com/ZpsGM9LEIq
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) November 15, 2024

Why isn’t Jimmy Kimmel hosting the Oscars this year?

Jimmy Kimmel emcee’d the 89th (2017), 90th (2017) and 95th (2023) editions of the Academy Awards, as well as last year’s but decided against accepting the role this time.

He explained that hosting the Oscars involves a lot of time and effort - months of planning and rehearsals, and that would interfere with his other work - giving him less time to work on his “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show.

.@JimmyKimmel's personal #Oscars pep talk includes a very special cameo. pic.twitter.com/Qwa9QEUXi8
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 16, 2017

“It’s hard and it’s a lot of work and my own show suffers a little bit to be honest,” he explained on the Politickin podcast last summer. “When I’m focused on the Oscars, I’m less focused on the show. And I just decided I didn’t want to deal with that this year. It was just too much last year. You wind up pushing everything off till after the Oscars, and then you have to do everything you promised to do after the Oscars, after the Oscars".

And, he adds, multitasking just isn’t his thing: “I’m not good at balancing. I’m really not. It’s not one of my strengths. I’m all in when it comes to something like the Oscars. I think about it in the morning and at night, and when I have ideas I want to work on them, and then my nightly show seems like a nuisance.”

Goodnight LA pic.twitter.com/EwhneUleCW
— John Mulaney (@mulaney) May 11, 2024

Not this year but maybe in the future, says Mulaney

John Mulaney also declined - presumably because he has been working on other projects (he was part of the cast in the recent Broadway production: All In: Comedy About Love). He has experience of compering awards ceremonies, having co-hosted the Independent Spirit Awards with Nick Kroll in 2017 and 2018 and the Academy’s 14th Governors Awards last year.

He has never hosted the Oscars but is open to doing so in the future if asked. “Sure, why not? It would be really fun. It’s hosting the Academy Awards... Johnny Carson did that,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Variety also asked if he would like to host the Oscars one day, to which he replied: “Oh… I’d bet. I mean, I like doing things. I’d bet. I’d be like, When is it? Do I have anything that night? How many months ahead of time am I scared?"

Conan O’Brien was not the first choice: These are the celebrities who declined hosting the 2025 Oscars

Follow all the information on the 2025 Oscars

Why isn’t Jimmy Kimmel hosting the Oscars this year?

Not this year but maybe in the future, says Mulaney

When are the 2025 Academy Awards?

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