It has been a crazy few days for Jimmy Kimmel. He hosted the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 27, which is already a massive job to take on, but he also had to deal with the mix up heard around the world. And then he had to film his late night talk show and explain it all.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, Feb. 27, the host spent his monologue describing the events that occurred at the very end of the night when La La Land was announced as the Best Picture of the year and Moonlight really won.
At the start of his monologue, Kimmel asked the audience a simple question: "Have any of you here ever hosted the Oscars before? Except for the end, it was a lot of fun."
What was going really well turned into a "Maury Povich paternity test show," according to Kimmel. Kimmel described the entire scene, starting with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway walking out with the wrong envelope. Beatty was confused at the contents of the envelope and handed it to Dunaway to figure out, which Kimmel hilariously noted was "Clyde (throwing) Bonnie under the bus, which was a slick move."
Dunaway announced La La Land as Best Picture and the entire cast and creative team went up on stage and began their speeches.
Here is where the "fun" starts. Kimmel explained where he was at the time.
"I'm now sitting in the audience watching the speeches. The plan is for me to end the show from the audience in a seat next to Matt Damon. We're sitting there and we notice some commotion going on. Matt says, 'I think I heard the stage manager say they got the winner wrong.' The stage manager is never on camera; it's very unusual. But you figure, 'Well, the host will go onstage and clear this up.' And then I remember, 'Oh, I'm the host.' "
Kimmel runs up on stage and notices that not one person in the room understands what is happening.
Moonlight is announced as Best Picture and they are making their way to the stage shocked and confused, while the La La Land team is stuck in disbelief and have no idea where to go. Kimmel then talked about which celebrity helped him keep the show moving.
"I'm standing there like an idiot feeling bad for these guys, but also trying really hard not to laugh, to be honest. I see Denzel Washington in the front row trying to get my attention. He's gesturing and he's pointing. I don't know what he's [doing], but he yells, 'Barry!' I'm like, 'What?' He says, 'Barry!' Eventually I figure out that Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight, is standing behind me and Denzel wants me to get him to the microphone to make a speech, which made sense. Thank God Denzel was there to make sense!"
Kimmel ended the show after Moonlight gave quick speeches as everyone was still in shock. But that is not where the story ends. Kimmel decided to visit Beatty backstage after the show and figure out exactly what happened.
"After the show, I went back in the green room to talk to Warren Beatty, because still nobody knows what happens. He showed me the evidence. You know, when you do a show like this, you aren't just the host—you're also the lead detective, the sheriff of the show. Warren Beatty could be in prison right now if I wanted him to. But the card said, 'Emma Stone, La La Land.'"
After clearing Beatty's name (and perhaps his own), Kimmel stuck one more joke in, at the expense of Dunaway who was the one to actually announce the wrong movie. "Faye Dunaway made quite a getaway. She read the wrong name and split. She got the hell out of there," he said.
Kimmel said the night could have "gone worse" and also revealed that two giant set pieces came crashing down during rehearsals right before the show. Luckily he was not on stage at the time, but everyone thought a bomb went off. Kimmel's wife even tried to hide their daughter under a table to protect her from the supposed threat, according to E! News. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Here is a video of Kimmel explaining the entire disaster.