Conan O’Brien has revealed the surprising rules around the treatment of Oscars, saying the statuettes are treated like a “religious icon”.
The 61-year-old took over hosting duties at the 97th Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles earlier this month. The comedian received a positive response, having taken over Jimmy Kimmel who has held the role for the last four years.
But O’Brien was eager to put his own stamp on things and pitched a number of skits to the organising committee, which they did not find funny – because they’d be considered too disrespectful to the trophies.
“At one point, I thought wouldn’t it be great if it’s just on the couch?” he said on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast.
“Let’s lay it on a really big couch and I’ll be vacuuming and say, ‘Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?’”
However, O’Brien and his team were told they couldn’t for a very bizarre reason: the Oscar couldn’t be horizontal.
“We wanted to do it and they just said, ‘No, no no, that can’t happen’,” he said.
“One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, ‘Oscar can never be horizontal.’ And that blew my mind. Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon.”
The prestigious accolade is made of bronze and plated with 24-carat gold.
He then suggested dressing the trophy in an apron to depict it as a housewife character and was told: “No clothing on Oscar. Oscar is always naked.”
The comedian made his mark with a performance “focused on silliness and self-deprecation, far more comfortable mocking himself than the stars in attendance or movie culture at large”, wrote The Independent’s Adam White in a review of the ceremony.
O’Brien made headlines and drew raucous applause for a comment about “standing up to a powerful Russian” in a thinly veiled dig at US president Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
He also provoked gasps and laughter for a comment about the ongoing beef between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar. “We’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a paedophile in a diss track, ‘Not Like Us.’”
He then suggested he wasn’t scared about any backlash as he had “lawyered up”.
