Conan O'Brien tapped to host the next Academy Awards

Emmy-winning late-night talk show host and podcaster Conan O'Brien will host the 97th Academy Awards, the organization behind the ceremony announced Friday.

O'Brien, 61, has never hosted the Oscars, which was emceed by late-night personality Jimmy Kimmel for the last two years.

The ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles will air live on ABC on March 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a post on X.

"We are thrilled and honored to have the incomparable Conan O'Brien host the Oscars this year," academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a joint statement. "He is the perfect person to help lead our global celebration of film with his brilliant humor, his love of movies, and his live TV expertise."

O'Brien, who is known for his off-kilter and self-deprecating comedy style, brings decades of live broadcast experience to the telecast, which has faced declining ratings in recent years.

"America demanded it and now it's happening: Taco Bell's new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme," O'Brien said in a statement. "In other words, I'm hosting the Oscars."

O'Brien got his start as a writer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and Fox's "The Simpsons" before going in front of the camera with NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," NBC's "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" and TBS' "Conan."

He left the late-night circuit in 2021 but expanded his cultural footprint with the popular podcast "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" as well as the travel series "Conan O'Brien Must Go," which streams on Max.

O'Brien has won five Emmys and earned 31 nominations for his small-screen work.

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He will assume Oscar hosting duties from Kimmel, who served as master of ceremonies in 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024.

The show eschewed a host in 2019, 2020 and 2021; Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes split the job in 2022, the year Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.

The producers behind the Oscars are eager to reverse the recent dip in viewership, which peaked in 1998, the year more than 55 million viewers tuned in to watch "Titanic" win best picture.

This year's show, energized partly by the box-office success of nominees "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie," drew more than 19.5 million viewers, a roughly 4% improvement over the previous year.

"Conan has all the qualities of a great Oscars host—he is incredibly witty, charismatic and funny and has proven himself to be a master of live event television," executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan said in a joint statement.

"We are so looking forward to working with him to deliver a fresh, exciting and celebratory show for Hollywood's biggest night," Kapoor and Mullan added.