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Thu 12 March 2026 11:55, UK
Conan O’Brien has looked ahead to presenting the Oscars on March 15th and revealed the one nominated movie that he’s not been able to find the funny in.
After his successful debut as host in 2025, O’Brien is set to return for the second consecutive year on March 15th, with the ceremony set to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
On March 11th, O’Brien opened up about his preparation for the big day while on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, revealing that he’s been playing unannounced club gigs in unexpected areas, sharing, “I love showing up where no one expects me to be there. They don’t particularly want me to be there, and it’s really fun just to pop up.”
He then revealed that, despite the best efforts of him and his writing team, they have been unable to seduce laughs from an audience about one particular film, admitting, “There are times where there are certain areas we cannot crack. One of them is the movie Train Dreams. Can’t get a good joke for Train Dreams, which maybe means there is no good joke for Train Dreams.”
Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones, is nominated at the Oscars for ‘Best Picture’, as well as ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’, ‘Best Cinematography’, and ‘Best Original Song’.
It follows Edgerton’s character, Robert Grainier, across eight decades in the life of a railroad construction worker in early 20th-century America, which, according to O’Brien, isn’t ripe for light comedic material at awards shows.
O’Brien said of his writing team’s efforts, “I think they’ve written 5000 jokes for Train Dreams. Not one of them is any good. And these are very good writers, so I blame Train Dreams.”
While he said it’s a “beautiful movie”, O’Brien hinted that he’ll choose to leave it out of his monologue at the ceremony.
Later, in the conversation with Kimmel, he was asked to share any jokes that “you’ve decided you will not do”, which saw O’Brien share one of the 5,000 Train Dreams jokes.
He shared, “This is the best Train Dreams joke out of 5000. Train Dreams was nominated for ‘Best Picture’. Finally, a movie that proves being a Pacific Northwest lumberjack in the early 1900s wasn’t as fun as it sounds.”
Although it did get laughter from the Kimmel crowd, it’s unlikely to blow the roof off the Dolby Theatre on March 15th.
Joining Conan at the Oscars will be Matt Berry, who will be the announcer at the ceremony. A star-studded cast of presenters, including Kieran Culkin, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Anne Hathaway, Chase Infiniti, Mikey Madison, Paul Mescal, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Gwyneth Paltrow, Maya Rudolph and Zoe Saldaña, will also be assisting during proceedings.
The presenters list is rounded out by Rose Byrne, Nicole Kidman, Jimmy Kimmel, Delroy Lindo, Ewan McGregor, Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, Bill Pullman, Lewis Pullman, Channing Tatum and Sigourney Weaver.
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