Conan O’Brien killed his Oscars monologue, roasting Emilia Perez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s awards season scandals, welcoming pal Adam Sandler as a gag, and jokingly promising to not waste time, all while wasting time. It was an artful monologue that balanced O’Brien’s trademark kooky Gen X humor all while paying tribute to the countless people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make movie magic. And, yes, he went there and cheekily slammed Karla Sofía Gascón’s wild implosion of an Oscars campaign.

Conan O’Brien was welcomed onto the stage of the 2025 Academy Awards as a “four time Oscars watcher,” after a spectacular performance from nominees Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. While at first, O’Brien’s jokes seemed to poke more at himself than the celebs in the crowd, that subtly changed when he teed up a joke about Best Picture frontrunner Anora that veered a sharp left.

“Anora uses the f-word 479 times,” O’Brien said. “That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist.”

“You tweeted what?” he yelled in character as Hollywood elites gasped and chuckled.

O’Brien shrugged it off by shuffling around and saying, “I’m having fun.”

O’Brien was of course referring to the fact that Gascon’s campaign plunged into controversy when several years-old tweets resurfaced, many with racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic views expressed.

He then addressed the elephant er Emilia Perez star, in the room directly. “Karla Sofia Gascon is here tonight and, Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember my name is Jimmy Kimmel,” O’Brien said.

Gascon looked confused, immediately turning to the people next to her.

That fun continued later in the monologue when he pointed out that one of his roles as the show’s host was to make sure it stayed a classy production. The cameras cut to fellow Saturday Night Live alum Adam Sandler slumped over in a hoodie and shorts. The two comedians went back and forth about Sandler’s casual attire, with Sandler going full “Sandman.”

“I like the way I look, because I’m a good person,” Sandler protested. “Do my snazzy gym shorts and soft hoodie offend you so much, you have to mock me in front of my peers?”

Sandler then left the auditorium, but not before saying hello to Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet by saying, “CHALAMET!!”

O’Brien then addressed the recent Los Angeles wildfires, noting that the Oscars don’t just celebrate movie stars, but the countless people who work in the industry, before ending the monologue on a typically zany note.