Weird Barbie and Ken help Jimmy Kimmel get to OscarsLand in first Oscars 2024 promo (original) (raw)
Jimmy Kimmel is ready to host the 96th Academy Awards, thanks to a little help from the cast of Barbie.
Despite being tapped to host the Oscars for the fourth time, the late-night host has no clue where to go in the first promo for the March telecast. Luckily, Helen Mirren, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling stepped up to help in their own special ways.
In the promo, which aired Monday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the directionless host is narrated by Mirren as he follows in Margot Robbie’s footsteps and seeks advice from Weird Barbie (McKinnon). “You must be midlife crisis Ken,” she says, before laying out the path to OscarsLand.
Jimmy Kimmel and Kate McKinnon in Oscars promo.
Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube
Traveling alongside his new guide, Kimmel journeys through a colorful montage of the Oscar-nominated films — which includes a glimpse of “weirder Barbie" (a.k.a. Emma Stone in Poor Things) and a recreation of the Oppenheimer set, where Kimmel fuels his Matt Damon feud by pointing him out as “that poor, incredibly hideous, disgusting, ugly man.”
After running Damon over in the Weird Wagon, the duo eventually arrive at the Oscars where Kimmel gets a pep talk from none other than Ferrera, riffing on her famous Barbie monologue. But instead of reprising the feminist anthem with a reminder of the difficulties of womanhood, she explains all the reasons why hosting the Oscars is the worst gig in Hollywood.
“You are the center of attention, but no one cares you’re there. You can never show off, never fall down, never fail, never show fear. Nobody says thank you and everyone has something critical to say online,” she says. “If it goes well, nobody says anything, but if it goes wrong, that’s your fault.”
Jimmy Kimmel, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling.
Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube
Unfortunately, Kimmel draws the wrong conclusion from her spiel: “What you're saying is, hosting the Oscars is even harder than being a woman!”
After being assured that his takeaway is definitely incorrect, Kimmel gets a visit from Ken (Gosling), who pops up from the backseat with a bag of In-N-Out a la Paul Giamatti. This is also when he discovers (again) that Greta Gerwig isn’t up for Best Director for her work on Barbie.
As Gosling and Kimmel scream to process the news, Mirren's voice returns to remind us, "Girls grow into women, but not all boys grow into men. Some remain hopelessly stuck in a loop of infantile foolishness."
But don’t let the screaming fool you: Barbie is up for eight awards at this year's Oscars ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Gosling, Best Supporting Actress for Ferrera, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig and her husband and co-writer, Noah Baumbach.
The 96th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 10, inside the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles. As Mirren reveals in the promo above, the show will air live on ABC an hour earlier than usual, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.