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Jimmy Kimmel pulls back the curtain on his fourth Oscars hosting gig

By Stephen Iervolino Mar 12, 2024 | 10:00 AM
Disney/Frank Micelotta

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night, the host spilled some tea about his fourth time hosting the Academy Awards.

Kimmel took the stage after Justin Timberlake first opened the show, implying Jimmy was too hungover from the Oscar after-parties to show up. After that bit, Kimmel gave fans a behind-the-scenes peek at Oscar night.

Jimmy quipped, “It’s always an honor to host an event you would otherwise not be invited to.”

As for his favorite moment, Kimmel said it “was probably hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger say the word ‘Godzilla.'”

With a clip of Ah-nuld reading the winner for Best Visual Effects, Kimmel showed Schwarzenegger clearly calling the movie “Guzzilla,” which Jimmy joked was a “mash-up of ‘Godzilla’ and ‘lasagna.'”

Kimmel also explained what went into John Cena‘s now-infamous nude scene, including a fight with ABC’s Standards and Practices about the “size of the envelope” protecting Cena’s modesty. “They kept wanting it to be bigger,” the host explained.

“Very rarely does an idea really push the envelope,” Jimmy said, revealing the producers were “terrified” by the bit.

Also, Kimmel revealed that Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, wouldn’t stop barking during rehearsals, so he couldn’t sit in the audience for the whole show as planned. “It wouldn’t be great for the in memoriam segment,” Jimmy joked.

Instead, they used pre-taped shots of the dog in the audience, including one where Messi “clapped” for Robert Downey Jr. with the help of a pair of puppeted dog legs made by JKL‘s prop master.

 

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