Oscars 2025: Conan O'Brien Kickstarts Show With Parody of Demi Moore's The Substance, Hilarious Digs at Wicked, Conclave and More

Conan O'Brien hilariously kicked off the Oscars 2025 by mocking Demi Moore's The Substance, Ariana Grande's Wicked, Emilia Perez's Karla Sofía Gascón, and more. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Updated on Mar 03, 2025 | 07:02 AM IST | 22.3K

CC: Getty Images

Conan O'Brien presented an unhinged and hilarious monologue at the Oscars 2025, taking digs at Demi Moore's The Substance for which she received the Best Actress nomination. O'Brien also parodied The Brutalist, Wicked, Conclave, and more while playfully making fun of the A-lister attendees of Hollywood's biggest night.

O’Brien came prepared with his jokes as he crawled out from within Moore’s body as shown in The Substance in a tuxedo, in a pre-recorded video. Upon entering the stage, he said, "Hi, Demi. How are you? That was weird. Yeah, awkward. I’m missing some car keys."

The veteran talk show host and comedian then moved on to roast other audience members. He said, "If you haven’t seen ‘Conclave,’ its logline is: A movie about the Catholic Church, but don’t worry."

He joked, "Another movie nominated for best picture is ‘I’m Still Here.’ Incredible film. It’s about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she called it the feel-good movie of the year."

Timothée Chalamet, nominated for playing the role of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, did not escape the host either.

"Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly," O’Brien said.

He also appreciated Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's dynamic performance that kicked off the event. Of Wicked, though, he joked, "It’s the perfect movie for anybody who ever got done watching The Wizard of Oz and thought, ‘Where did all the minor characters go to college?’"

This year's Oscar-nominated films are rife with controversies which naturally has become great ammunition for the host. Taking a dig at The Brutalist's generative AI usage, O'Brien cracked a dark joke, saying, "We did not use AI to make this show. No AI. We would never do that. We use child labor... Hey, they’re still people."

Referring to Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s recently unearthed racist tweets, he joked, "Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel."

After Jimmy Kimmel’s run as host, Conan O’Brien took over Oscars 2205. He has also hosted the MTV Movie Awards and the Emmys two times. He has also hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In a hilarious and witty introduction, Nick Offerman called him a "four-time Oscar viewer."