{"id":326597,"date":"2026-03-12T21:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326597\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T21:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:36:09","slug":"conan-obrien-reveals-johnny-carson-inspiration-for-oscar-hosting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326597\/","title":{"rendered":"Conan O\u2019Brien reveals Johnny Carson inspiration for Oscar hosting"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Oscars<\/a> just days away, return host Conan O’Brien is taking a moment to reflect on the people who helped him reach that stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very fortunate. I have the best comedy writers in the world working with me and head writer-producer Mike Sweeney is doing a fantastic job and Jeff Ross. They’re providing me with every ounce of horsepower I could want,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cAnd we have had some big ideas for things we’ve wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producing Sunday’s ceremony with Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, O\u2019Brien says the experience has felt almost like being handed the keys to a luxury sports car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking on the Oscars is like driving a Maserati. So responsive, so fast, fuel-efficient,\u201d he joked during a press conference on Wednesday. \u201cI’m just trying to make a pitch to Maserati that I don’t have one. I think it’s an amazing car and I’d like to have one in lime green, if that’s possible, and I’d like it shipped to my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Stellan<\/a> \"Emily<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"ConanConan O’Brien at the 98th Oscars arrivals carpet roll out on March 11.Michael Buckner\/Variety<\/p>\n

Behind the jokes, however, O\u2019Brien sees the job as something larger than simply delivering punchlines. Hosting the Oscars, he says, is about guiding audiences through an often unpredictable event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about being funny moment to moment,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s also about acknowledging what this is about in a larger sense. And as the host, I’m sort of the human avatar. I’m the entryway for the person watching at home and who the person watching at home can relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite extensive rehearsal, O\u2019Brien says the live nature of the Oscars is what makes it exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk a lot on this stage about prep and design and getting everything just a certain way and practice, practice, practice,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when this show happens, it is an organic thing. It’s unfolding in real time and there’s life in it. We will respond to things that happen in the moment and this show will be a living organism for better or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

For O\u2019Brien, the significance of the gig reaches back to his childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, I’d look at my dad and I would think, \u2018What’s my dad into? And is that a way to connect with my dad?\u2019 And he used to watch Johnny Carson<\/a>,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was his treat and my dad loved comedy. I would sometimes get to stay up and watch Johnny Carson with him. I remember very clearly Johnny Carson hosting the Oscars and watching my father watch Johnny and watching my father laugh thinking, wow, okay, that’s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"johnny<\/p>\n

The memory left a lasting impression on the future comedian.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat man is making my father laugh and it’s a triangle. So to think that maybe now I’m part of that equation somehow and in a cosmic way links me to my dad is pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Oscar moment in particular stuck with him \u2014 Carson\u2019s famously topical humor during a long ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there was one year when the Oscars was of course running long and Johnny took the stage and at the time it was during the hostage situation in Iran and Nightline was doing its Day 300, Day 310,\u201d O\u2019Brien recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Johnny said, \u2018Well, it is Day 444 of these Oscars.\u2019 And it was such a funny topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about and at the same time got a big laugh and was unifying. And that was meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he prepares to host, O\u2019Brien also notes that he\u2019s been impressed by the strength of the films being honored this year. He adds that signing on again so early <\/a>to host \u2014 after last year\u2019s success \u2014 gave him more time to delve into the films.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to watch the whole year in film rollout in real time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a spectacular year for movies. All the movies are so different. They’re all so vibrant. There’s so many different voices. So much artistry went into them. And I think it’s one of the best films years that we’ve had in memory.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Oscars just days away, return host Conan O’Brien is taking a moment to reflect on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[61425,156,4134,175931,111,139,69,2584,36526,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-326597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-conan-obrien","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fyc","11":"tag-johnny-carson","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-oscars","16":"tag-oscars-2026","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}