Even when there wasn’t a slap on Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes slapped.
The 55-year-old late-night host opened the 2023 Oscars with a monologue that took a swipe at Will Smith — and he continued to take jabs at him all night.
Taking to the Dolby Theatre’s stage, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host arrived by dropping in via parachute after which dropped jokes about most of the A-listers seated within the auditorium.
After all, Kimmel referenced last 12 months’s infamous slap between Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock in his monologue.
“Five Irish actors are nominated tonight — which implies the percentages of one other fight again onstage just went way up,” Kimmel said.
But he didn’t stop there — he also poked fun on the indisputable fact that Smith picked up an Oscar award for “Best Actor” within the movie “King Richard” after the slap.
“So, we have now strict policies in place, if anyone on this theater commits an act of violence at any point in the course of the show, you can be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and permitted to offer a 19-minute long speech.” Kimmel joked. “Seriously, the Academy has a crisis team in place. If anything unpredictable or violent happens in the course of the ceremony, just do what you probably did last 12 months. Nothing. Sit there and do absolutely nothing possibly even give the assailant a hug. And if any of you get mad at a joke and choose you desire to come up here and get jiggy with it, it’s not gonna be easy.”
He then made a nod to those sitting within the audience, joking that you simply would must get through the star of “Spiderman” and other Oscar nominees to get past him for those who suddenly felt the urge to leap on stage and slap someone.
“There are a couple of my friends are going to must get through first,” Kimmel said. “You’re going to get must get through the heavyweight champ, Adonis Creed, before you get to me. You’re gonna must battle with Michelle Yeoh before you get to me. You’re gonna have the beat the Mandalorian before you get to me. You’re gonna must tangle with Spiderman. You’re gonna must tangle with Fableman.”
The comedian continued, joking about his sidekick on his late-night talk show, Guillermo Rodriguez.
“After which, you’re gonna must undergo my right-hand man, Guillermo, for those who wanna get through this stage,” Kimmel said. “The opposite Guillermo, not del Toro.”
He then said that the show could be “no-nonsense” and “no shenanigans.”
Afterward while introducing presenters for best documentary, he took yet one more crack at Smith.
“Put your hands together or no less than keep them to yourselves,” he joked.
He opened the monologue by making a joke about Ozempic, a diabetic drug that many suspect has been sweeping Hollywood in recent months since a known side effect is weight reduction.
Kimmel chided, “Once I go searching this room, I can’t help but wonder, is Ozempic right for me?”
In the course of the monologue, he also poked fun at Nicole Kidman for her emergence from “AMC”, and labeled Seth Rogen and Steven Spielberg because the “Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood.” He also shouted out Nick Cannon and his 12 kids, poking fun on the sum of money that “Avatar” cost to make.
“Disney spent $2 billion on this movie, and just to interrupt even, all of Nick Cannon’s kids needed to see ‘Avatar’ for time,” Kimmel said.
As he wrapped all of it up, he was joined by performers from the 2022 film movie “RRR,” joking that they’d follow anyone offstage in the event that they speak too long.
Ahead of the show, Kimmel was asked if he would even dare touch the topic of the slap heard ’around the world — when Will Smith, 54, cracked 94th Academy Awards presenter Chris Rock, 58, within the face after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
“Well, whatever I say about it, it’s going to must be great, right?” he told The Hollywood Reporter last week. “Because a lot has been said and there’s a lot deal with it. I obviously don’t have the desire to make the entire monologue about that, however it could be ridiculous not to say it.”
The funnyman was also asked what he would do if one other slap occurred, and hilariously explained it could rely upon who laid the smackdown.
“You mean, if any person comes up on the stage and slaps me?” he said. “Well, I size them up, and, if I’m larger than they’re, I beat the s–t out of them on television. And if it’s the Rock, I run.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences previously shared that they planned to have a “crisis team” on standby to stop any live ruckus, but had intentions to deal with the incident in some manner.
“We’re going to acknowledge it, after which we’re gonna move on,” Oscars executive producer Molly McNearney said last week. “We don’t have the desire to make this 12 months about last 12 months. It’s definitely something we will and can address in a comedic fashion.”
Since Kimmel had previously hosted the show twice — in 2017 and 2019 — the Academy brought him on to stop any live mishaps.
“It’s so essential to have a bunch who knows how one can handle live television and a live audience,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said. “He’s funny, he’s respectful, his edges aren’t too sharp.”
Kimmel, though, told THR that while he was planning on retiring, he took on Oscar hosting duties anyway because for those who “catch me at the proper moment, you’ll be able to get me to sign almost anything.
“I am going from a hot to cold in a short time,” he said on the time. “I’m sure on Sunday at midnight of the Oscars, I’ll be contemplating retirement again.”
