2012 Oscars: Jimmy Kimmel Welcomes Oprah Winfrey, Coldplay, and Debuts a Star-Studded Trailer
The excitement of Oscar Sunday continued after Academy Awards host Billy Crystal said goodnight when Jimmy Kimmel welcomed Oprah Winfrey and the band Coldplay for a special post-Oscars show on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
Kimmel opened the show with a gag skit in which he was waiting outside the back entrance at the Oscars for Crystal to exit, and bribed the host with a briefcase full of cash for an Oscar of his own. As Crystal drove off with his cash, Kimmel was surprised to see "Sesame Street's" Oscar the Grouch emerge from the bag in which he expected his statue to be.
Kimmel entered his studio wearing a tuxedo and with two dazzling beauties on each arm, and riffed on the night's big winners in his monologue, joking that "The Help" was so popular with audiences that Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to get it pregnant, and that although Meryl Streep won the best actress award, he personally thought Viola Davis was robbed - by Lindsay Lohan.
Although Winfrey, who took home an honorary Oscar Sunday night, made an excellent guest, the true treat was a fake film trailer that was put together for a movie simply called "Movie: The Movie."
Kimmel boasted that the film would be the "most star-studded" film ever made. The non-sequitur trailer begins with such Hollywood clichés as a dog that plays sports and a doll that comes to life, and quickly devolves into absurdity, with a boat atop a plane, piloted by Samuel L. Jackson, which is (of course) filled with snakes.
The producers of the epic, eight-minute -long faux trailer truly did assemble an incredible cast, with dozens of celebrity appearances that included George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Tom Hanks, Ed Norton, Matt Damon as a bunch of grapes, Meryl Streep (in a moustache) and Gabourey Sidibe as black Hitler, among many, many others.
Kimmel then introduced "The great and powerful Oprah Winfrey," who received a warm welcome from the audience after she won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award humanitarian award at this year's Oscars.
Kimmel and Winfrey riffed on topics such as their Twitter conversations and the big night's events before they discussed Winfrey's first trip to the Oscars in 1986, when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Color Purple." Winfrey told of how she had used Dolly Parton's dressmaker for her gown that night more than 25 years ago.
"It was one of most horrible nights of life," Winfrey said. "I had used Dolly's dressmaker. If you're going to have a gown made, it's a big to-do. He came to do a fitting, brought it back, when I went to put it on half an hour, I couldn't get it on. So my hairdresser had to lay me on floor and push my butt down. I was planked in the back of a limo.
"[By the time I arrived] everyone was inside, and there was no more red carpet. I couldn't sit in the chair," she revealed. "l had this really heavy beaded collar on. So I spent the whole night holding onto the collar. I was praying for someone else to win!"
Winfrey went on to tell Kimmel about her lengthy audition process for the role of Sofia in "The Color Purple," and how that when she finally landed the role, she jumped on Stephen Spielberg's couch. Kimmel pointed out that she therefore had done this before Tom Cruise famously jumped on her couch on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Kimmel then ran a number of clever sketches of programs that he'd pitched to Winfrey for her new OWN network, which included a show where the former daytime host steals back all of the "favorite things" she'd given to her audience over the years, an interview show where Kimmel and Winfrey simultaneously interview guests, speaking over one another, and "Oprah's Book Club Fight Club," where the host would attack those who question her interpretations of the books.
After the skits. Kimmel thanked Winfrey and welcomed Coldplay, who performed the hit song "Charlie Brown" from their latest album "Mylo Xyloto," and closed off the show with their single "Paradise."