Jimmy Kimmel gave Conan O’Brien ‘dumb tips’ for hosting Oscars 2025

Conan O’Brien is revealing the, uh, unique hosting tips Jimmy Kimmel gave him for this year’s Oscars.

The comedian, 61, revealed that Kimmel, who has hosted the awards show four times, was one of the very first people to congratulate him after news broke that he would emcee this year’s star-studded ceremony. Kimmel and his wife, TV writer Molly McNearney, even took their support a step farther by offering him some important advice over a recent dinner.

“We met at a restaurant and you and Molly could not have been more gracious,” O’Brien said while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “They gave me all these great tips.”

Kimmel was quick to clarify, “Dumb tips.”

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Kimmel added that he’d never have the gall to give O’Brien comedy advice but that he did have a few “old man tips” he thought he should share. 

“Jimmy is obsessed with sitting down as much as possible,” O’Brien told the Live audience. “His tips kept going back to, ‘Try and sit down! If you can do the joke sitting down, do them sitting down!’ What are you, Franklin Roosevelt? Relax, buddy!”

The Conan Must Go star admitted that McNearney’s guidance was much more helpful. “Molly is very smart and she clearly pays attention,” he said. “She had all these very specific, great tips — I mean she’s beautiful, she’s smart, she just really knows the show.”

He noted that Kimmel, however, was much more “obsessed with ordering appetizers” at the restaurant they had visited. 

At which point Kimmel teased, “The tips ain’t free!”

“Molly is giving me amazing advice on how to host the Oscars — you were a complete waste of time,” O’Brien joked.

A laughing Kimmel replied, “Next year, just you and Molly maybe.”

Kimmel then pressed O’Brien on whether or not he’d actually seen all of the movies nominated this year. “I told PEOPLE magazine that I’ve watched all 35,” O’Brien said before giving a slightly nervous look toward the camera. “And that’s in print! What about you? Generally, do you watch ’em all?”

“Some of them, no,” Kimmel confessed. “Some of them, if you know they don’t have a chance or nobody saw them… I didn’t watch them.” Turning to the shocked audience, he then asked, “What, do you think there’s some that have a chance?”

O’Brien noted that, in Kimmel’s defense, the Oscars categories have expanded over the years to include a whopping 110 movies. “I have seen all the movies,” he declared before shooting another awkward look at the camera. He then amended, “I’ve watched a lot of the movies.”

O’Brien will put his film knowledge to the test when he hosts the 2025 Academy Awards this Sunday on ABC. For now, watch him and Kimmel discuss the upcoming ceremony in the clip above.