Jimmy Kimmel Says Conan O’Brien Did Such Good Job As Oscar Host, “Next Year They’re Giving It To Jay Leno”​on March 4, 2025 at 6:53 am

Jimmy Kimmel, who has hosted the Oscars four times, injected some late-night wars humor into his reaction to Conan O’Brien’s debut as Oscar host.

“Conan O’Brien did a great job as host of the Oscars,” Kimmel said on his ABC late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday. “If fact, they said, I read today, Conan did such a good job, the Oscars announced that next year they’re giving it to Jay Leno to host.”

That was a reference to the botched Tonight Show transition at NBC where O’Brien, then the popular host of NBC’s Late Night, was promised The Tonight Show to stay at NBC. But when the time came for him to take over The Tonight Show in fall 2009, NBC brass were not quite ready to send off his predecessor Jay Leno, creating a primetime talk show for him. The move made O’Brien leave The Tonight Show after just a couple of months,with NBC reinstating Leno as host.

Kimmel, who watched the 2009 drama unfold from his ABC perch, was critical of how O’Brien was treated and of Leno, even impersonating the latter in full hear and makeup for his JKL monologue the day O’Brien announced his departure from The Tonight Show in January 2010.

A decade and a half later, Kimmel, who opted not to return as Oscar host for a fifth time — and third in a row — has been supportive of O’Brien as his successor.

“I believe this to be an EXCELLENT choice,” Kimmel wrote on X when O’Brien was announced as 2025 host back in October. During O’Brien’s recent visit to JKL, he revealed that Kimmel was the first person to call him after the announcement and had been giving him hosting tips. Kimmel also wished O’Brien good luck on Oscar Sunday.

Here is Kimmel’s Monday monologue, which included more Oscar impressions and his reaction to the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office showdown.