Jimmy Kimmel Tasked With Oscars Hosting Gig in New Promo: Must Be “Unslappable”

Jimmy Kimmel is feeling the need for speed in a new promo for the 2023 Oscars. On Tuesday (Feb. 14), the comedian released a four-minute teaser in which Top Gun: Maverick stars Jon Hamm and Charles Parnell reluctantly task him with hosting the biggest night in Hollywood.

At the start of the video, Kimmel struts into the Top Gun flight academy where he observes a wall filled with pictures of previous Oscars hosts, including Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, Chris Rock and nine-time host Billy “Marvelous” Crystal.

Mimicking the scene in Top Gun: Maverick where Tom Cruise learns he’s being sent back to the academy as an instructor, Kimmel similarly meets with Hamm and Parnell, who proceed to give him the long lists of A-list stars who denied the hosting gig before they finally settled on him.

“I have to admit I wasn’t expecting to be asked to host again,” Kimmel says, to which Hamm replies, “Let me be perfectly clear: you were not my first choice. Or my second choice. Or my third, fourth, fifth or eleventh choice.”

Parnell explains, “ABC has tasked us with finding a host who is unflappable. And unslappable,” referencing last year’s ceremony where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face for making a joke at his wife’s expense.

After the duo shoots down Kimmel’s idea to open the three-hour celebration with a musical number, the TV host offers up another plan for how he might tackle the mission.

“That’s a big audience of very nervous famous people. So I’d probably start with something self-deprecating to break the ice,” he says. “Joke about how I’m wearing two sets of Spanx, maybe something about the magic of storytelling. They love that.”

Kimmel continues, “And then I’ll lead a standing ovation for someone old and if I make it out, there’s only four or five hours left until we give Best Picture to, hopefully, the right movie.”

The last time Kimmel hosted was in 2017 — the year of envelope-gate, when La La Land was accidentally announced as the winner of Best Picture instead of Moonlight.

When Hamm says they made a “terrible mistake” hiring Kimmel, Crystal (or Double Admiral Crystal) enters the room, putting faith in the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host. Amid his refusal to take the hosting gig himself, Crystal declares, “I think he can do it.”

The 95th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.