Conan O'Brien Hosts Oscars Red Carpet in Rustic Denim Attire
Conan O'Brien abandoned his customary sleek suit in favour of more rustic clothing to host the ceremonial rollout of the red carpet for the 98th Academy Awards. The event took place outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday, marking a distinctive style departure for the veteran comedian.
Denim Jumpsuit and Dramatic Poses
The flame-haired comedian, who turns sixty-three next month, dressed his towering six-foot-four frame in a blue-denim jumpsuit. He layered this over a formal white shirt and a blue-dotted necktie, completing the look with a pair of brown boots. Hairstylist KC Carhart Speers enhanced O'Brien's height with his signature coiffed curl, while groomer Michelle DeMilt ensured he was camera-ready for Oscar press day.
The six-time Emmy winner was assisted by three crew members as they collectively pushed the massive red carpet for the snapping cameras inside the bustling Ovation Hollywood complex. However, the manual labour was brief, as O'Brien soon began striking dramatic poses on the yet-to-be-unfurled carpet. At one point, the Team Coco owner splayed his body lengthwise with one knee raised, fully embracing the attention.
Monologue Preparation and Personal Reflections
With merely four days remaining before the ABC and Hulu broadcast, O'Brien has been diligently workshopping his Oscars monologue material alongside over five other writers. On Sunday, the Harvard-educated, Massachusetts-born funnyman tested approximately twenty minutes of this material on stage at the Largo comedy club.
"I get obsessive," O'Brien confessed to THR Magazine on Monday. "I want to turn it off, but I can't. That's not always a fun ride, but that's the deal. At sixty-two, I understand it. I tell my daughter, 'You have to know your own owner's manual.' I now know the Conan Owner's Manual."
Oscars Connections and Tragic Loss
The Mark Twain Prize recipient will likely be supporting his If I Had Legs I'd Kick You co-star Rose Byrne, who is nominated for Best Actress alongside Jessie Buckley, Renate Reinsve, Emma Stone, and Kate Hudson. Additionally, O'Brien is expected to oversee the in memoriam tribute to his late friend, filmmaker Rob Reiner. This segment is rumoured to feature Reiner's When Harry Met Sally actors Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.
The beloved filmmaker and his second wife, Michele Reiner, were tragically stabbed to death in the bedroom of their $13.5 million Brentwood mansion on December 14. They were aged seventy-eight and seventy, respectively. This horrific incident occurred just hours after they attended a party at O'Brien's home.
"Very simply, we had a party, we invited our really good friends and then, the next day, this terrible thing happened," O'Brien, host of the Needs a Friend podcast, stated. "Whatever difficulties my wife and I have experienced having our name attached to it are nothing compared to the scale of the tragedy for the family and the loss of Rob and Michele."
He continued, "If you're a known person, your name is going to get dragged into things sometimes, but it is not a hardship. There is only sadness that they're gone." The Reiners' thirty-two-year-old son, Nick, was arrested for their homicide and is awaiting his next court date on April 29 at LA's Twin Towers Correctional Facility, having pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
Oscars Performances and Future Projects
On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the performers for the musical portion of the ceremony. These include Josh Groban, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and KPop Demon Hunters singers Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami. Following the Timothée Chalamet scandal, ballerina Misty Copeland, who previously wore Marty Supreme merchandise, was enlisted to dance during the Sinners presentation. This segment will also feature Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq, Brittany Howard, Shaboozey, and others.
Looking beyond the Oscars, O'Brien will voice the character Smarty Pants in Andrew Stanton's animated film Toy Story 5, scheduled for release in US theatres on June 19. The cast includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, and Keanu Reeves. Furthermore, it has been a full year since HBO Max renewed the Emmy-winning travel series Conan O'Brien Must Go, produced by O'Brien's Beast in Me company, for a third season.
In a significant business move, O'Brien sold his podcast production company, Team Coco, to SiriusXM in 2022 for a deal valued at approximately $150 million. The JFK Presidential Library board member, a former writer for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, hosted talk shows—Late Night, The Tonight Show, and Conan—for nearly twenty-eight consecutive years.
