Oscar Night Reactions: Part 1
Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 9:00PM 
Multiple writers were ecstatic over the MOULIN ROUGE! reunion at the end of the telecast.
Dear readers. We polled Team Experience about the big night and of course we need your responses too in the comments. Best Jokes, Best Presenting Moments, Best Acceptance Speeches, and the moment we knew it was over for Sinners (in terms of a Best Picture win. This is part one of two posts. Here are the first four questions which we hope you'll answer in the comments, too.
Ready? Let's go...
AND THE BEST CONAN O'BRIEN JOKE GOES TO...
Nick Taylor: Really the whole opening bit in Aunt Gladys drag set the tone perfectly for the whole night, very fucking stupid but with a real love for cinema and this year’s nominees. The total package.
Nathaniel R: I had forgotten what an excellent host Conan O'Brien is. The hit ratio on the jokes was stellar. But a single favourite is tough. Maybe the Oscars on YouTube bit?
Lynn Lee: "Netflix CEO, Ted Sarandos, is here. And this is exciting, it's his first time in a theater!"
Juan Carlos: The one about pedophiles being arrested. Jokes last night lacked grit and this is one of the few that had actual teeth.
Eric Blume: "Between Hamnet and Bugonia, it's a big year for movies that sound like off-brand lunch meat." Mostly funny because Emma Stone thought it was funny.
Eurocheese: Mocking the Oscars for retracting the damn microphone as winners were talking, because really...
Cláudio Alves: Honestly - and I can't believe I'm saying this - the pre-recorded skits, especially that ending gag parodying the fate of Lockjaw in One Battle After Another. It's always so refreshing when a host actually seems to have seen the movies and loves cinema, wanting to celebrate it even as they joke about it. Please never bring back those hosts who seem actively resentful of the medium, whose every joke is at the expense of the nominated work rather than laughing from a place of appreciation. You know who I'm talking about.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PRESENTING MOMENT:
Abe Friedtanzer: I loved the idea to have a cast member from each nominated movie present Best Casting! One of the best moves the show has made in a while to get creative in a meaningful way.
Nick Taylor: Adrien Brody joking about how he has a few more people to thank before getting on with it and presenting Best Actor. Nice to see he’s got a good sense of humor about it.
Nathaniel R: The Bridesmaids reunion because those women are blissfully funny and that movie is forever one of my favourite moviegoing experiences (given the memorable circumstances of the collection of friends I saw it with while on a trip together). Conan is a great great host but what I would give to have these five host and entire ceremony. It would be as good as the salad days of Tina & Amy at the Globes.
Eric Blume: Probably Ewan and Nicole at the very end. Always exciting and sweet to see people who starred opposite each other memorably reunited.
Eurocheese: So lovely to have a Moulin Rouge! reunion presenting Best Picture. I'm usually ready to be done by that point, but I was smiling ear to ear.
Cláudio Alves: I really appreciate that AMPAS, like myself, likes to pretend Moulin Rouge! won Best Picture in 2001, rather than that hideously mediocre and actively prejudiced Ron Howard-helmed biopic. So, thank you for inviting Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor to present the final award. It's so nice to look at them.
AT WHAT POINT IN THE CEREMONY WERE YOU CONVINCED THAT IT WAS OVER FOR SINNERS' DREAM OF WINNING "BEST PICTURE" (DESPITE THE RECENT SURGE)...
Juan Carlos: Losing Supporting Actress and not having surprise wins (Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Supporting Actor).
Abe Friedtanzer: When it lost Best Casting. I didn't think it had much of a shot before that, but there was no way it was coming back from that miss.
Cláudio Alves: When it lost Best Casting, though that possibility seemed to come alive again when it won Cinematography and Actor.
Eric Blume: I never thought it was going to happen for Sinners. But as soon as Casting went to OBAA, it was confirmed.
AND THE BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH GOES TO...
Juan Carlos: The filmmaking team behind Mr. Nobody Against Putin.
Eric Blume: I was very moved by Autumn Durald Arkawpaw's speech, and I wasn't rooting for her to win. But she made it clear what a happy set they had on Sinners, and her words were humble and true.
Eurocheese: Michael B. Jordan. Beautiful, classy speech.
Nick Taylor: Amy Madigan started us off pretty phenomenally. For someone who absolutely knew she was going to win an Oscar, I was amazed at how emotional and witty Jessie Buckley was. For someone who did not have his award locked down, I really loved what Michael B. Jordan said. Ryan Coogler’s overwhelmed speech was so moving, as was Autumn Arkapaw’s cool and gratitude onstage. The jubilation of the two live action short winners was tremendous. PTA’s speeches got better and better throughout the night, so I guess he wins another award, but the One Battle people were ecstatic throughout. Everyone did good speeching.
Nathaniel: It's Paul Thomas Anderson for me. It's been a long time coming and he did so well. And the speeches were different too. And an unexpected shout out to the greatest of all Best Picture lineups 1975? PTA is such a gift to cinephiles.
Cláudio Alves: While my head says Michael B. Jordan or Autumn Durald Arkapaw whose eloquence and sentiment made up for some mild disappointment, my heart is clamouring for Andy Jurgensen, who was living the gay man's dream that night. Loved the kiss on the way to the stage, the shout-out to his aunt who inspired him and the friends watching from a bar, the joy I imagine he felt getting to watch Barbra Streisand sing live earlier that evening. Wait, I think I'm going off-topic. I guess this is coming from a place of projection and envy, sorry guys.
YOUR TURN, READERS. PART TWO COMING SOON.
Reader Comments (13)
My favorite joke was not Conan’s. It belonged to Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy.
Maya Rudolph began, "Earlier today, when I was counting my money, I asked myself, ‘What is sound?’”
Melissa McCarthy replied, "It's a mystery, Maya. They've asked scientists, the best in the world including Steven Spielberg. And even he doesn't know. And once again, I find myself disappointed with you, Steven."
Maya’s counting money joke was hilarious.
I laughed when Anna called Anne Hathaway Emily.
rose byrne telling leo she thought he was someone else
speaking of australian actresses: who else thought nicole was drunk?
AND THE BEST CONAN O'BRIEN JOKE GOES TO...
Every time it went over the audience's heads, and he commented on the fact. ;-)
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PRESENTING MOMENT:
Bridesmaids reunion! I loved what Rose Byrne deadpanned to Leo, even though it didn't really land.
AT WHAT POINT IN THE CEREMONY WERE YOU CONVINCED THAT IT WAS OVER FOR SINNERS' DREAM OF WINNING "BEST PICTURE" (DESPITE THE RECENT SURGE)...
Best Casting, unfortunately. Film Editing was the final nail in that coffin. (I just saw what I did there...)
AND THE BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH GOES TO...
Autumn Durald Arkawpaw and Mr. Nobody Against Putin.
@ par
It felt to me like Nicole was playing "single, sexy Nicole" all evening.
AND THE BEST CONAN O'BRIEN JOKE GOES TO...
None in particular. The one that really made me jump (and not in a good way) was the Anora one introducing Madison
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PRESENTING MOMENT:
Ranked: 1) Bridesmaids. Let them host the whole night next year 2) Ewan and Nicole 3) Brody. Honorable mention: Weaver and Hudson being so funny and beautiful. And Pascal being so hot even without his mustache.
AT WHAT POINT IN THE CEREMONY WERE YOU CONVINCED THAT IT WAS OVER FOR SINNERS' DREAM OF WINNING "BEST PICTURE" (DESPITE THE RECENT SURGE)...
Casting
AND THE BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH GOES TO...
Every PTA speech. And the joy with which he was looking the statues while he was speaking.
Honestly, when OBAA won editing, but then Sinners immediately beat it for cinematography, things went back to feeling unpredictable.
Mike in Canada - I kinda thought the same thing. Would have been nice for Sinners to get picture then PTA and Ryan would each have two and each movie would have each won 5 - even split.
I don't get the "Bush-era politics" critique. You could count on one or two hands the really memorable protest/political moments in Oscar speeches/presentations, a good bit of them happened in the 70s. All to say there's no strong and sustained tradition of people speechifying about politics at the Oscars.
If anything, the Bush era gave us Michael Moore in 2003 and the muted dress code (memorable for Kidman's black dress).
It seems a bit grasping to accuse the Oscars of being in retreat from something that was never really a feature in the first place.
AND THE BEST CONAN O'BRIEN JOKE GOES TO...
The joke about the opera and ballet people sieging the theater, plus Timmy's reaction shot.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PRESENTING MOMENT:
Kumail's reaction and ad-lib to the tie.
AT WHAT POINT IN THE CEREMONY WERE YOU CONVINCED THAT IT WAS OVER FOR SINNERS' DREAM OF WINNING "BEST PICTURE" (DESPITE THE RECENT SURGE)...
Casting
AND THE BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH GOES TO...
PTA's best picture speech. Nice to shoutout 1975 as both complimenting his fellow nominees, and implicitly three directors who never won Best Director -- Lumet, Kubrick, and Altman. The Academy is better for ensuring PTA won't join that club.
DK -- The 1970s were a high point for this, sure, especially in terms of outright protest and call to action. However, politics and allusions to events beyond the entertainment world were always a mainstay of the Oscar stage, mostly from the late 60s onwards. Well, sorta. Because the WWII Oscars were certainly full of politics. It's just that people don't tend to think about such things as politics.
From presenters' banter to hosts' monologues, this was evident even in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, if not in as confrontational a manner as some of those famous 1970s occasions. And even then, I'm thinking of Dukakis, of Basinger calling out the Academy, etc.
During the Obama years and a bit after, you can't tell me politics didn't become a bigger part of these ceremonies than during the early to mid-2000s. Indeed, you cite Moore as an example, but he was actively booed at the Oscars. Both in speeches and the organization of the ceremony, I feel the late 2000s and 2010s saw an increase in this. At least, I felt it, as I became a regular Oscar watcher from 2005 onward. Just look at how original songs like "Glory" and "Till It Happens to You" were presented in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Yes, advocacy was mostly kept to liberal causes that most everyone in the room and the target demographic could agree on, but still.
I guess I mostly felt it this year because the biggest winner of the night was OBAA and yet, not even those winners could be bothered to wear those "ICE out" pins I saw on Thales Junqueira and Malgorzia Turzanska. Of course, it's performative to a certain extent, and these showings of solidarity may not mean much in the broader scope of things but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth to see it (or not see it, as the case may be). Reminded me of last year, when EMILIA PÉREZ kept winning awards in the middle of one of the most hostile political turns against the trans community in a while and almost none of those numerous speeches throughout the season even bothered to acknowledge the reality for the people whose identity the film supposedly preached about.
Maybe the Bush-era description wasn't the most accurate but, to me, as a viewer of these things, it felt like a return to a quieter time when, even in nights like this, the entertainment industry tried to shake the boat as little as possible. With Paramount so eager to kowtow to the Trump administration and on their way to fold Warner Bros. into themselves, I'm just feeling a bit depressed about the state of things.
I hope this explains that comment a bit better. I hesitated to even include it in my answers to the form, but I guessed I might as well be honest in this reaction post.
Marsha Mason -- Sometimes, I forget Kubrick, Lumet and Altman never won the award and then I'm instantly heartbroken when the reality sinks in.
I feel like Jane Fonda's career nicely bookends the political energy of the 70s, going from "Hanoi Jane" to a movie that met "Middle America" halfway—literally called COMING HOME. The upshot being, Hollywood makes movies partly in service of the public and the public are not (generally) a bunch of hippies.