Conan O’Brien has revealed what the Oscars wouldn’t let him do
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — No, Conan. Oscar can’t sit on a couch.
Conan O’Brien hosted this year’s Academy Awards and he has revealed some golden ideas he and his writer weren’t allowed to execute.
In an episode of his “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast, O’Brien and Mike Sweeney, who served as his head writer for the Oscars, discussed some behind-the-scenes moments from the recent event.
According to O’Brien, he pitched a promo in which he and a 9-foot-tall Oscar statuette were meant to be a domestic couple who were “fighting about things couples fight about.”
“I thought wouldn’t it be great if it’s just on the couch?,” he said. “Let’s lay it on a really big couch and I’ll be vacuuming and say, ‘Could you at least lift your feet? Or could you at least get up and help? Load the dishwasher?’”
But O’Brien said he was told that couldn’t happen.
“One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, ‘Oscar can never be horizontal,’” he recalled. “And that blew my mind.”
O’Brien joked that the Oscars statue “is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon.”
He also would have liked to have the statue dressed in an apron to depict Oscar as a housewife. That, too, was shot down as they were told, “No clothing on Oscar. Oscar is always naked.”
The original opening was also scrapped, O’Brien shared.
What made it to the show was O’Brien spoofing “The Substance,” which stars Demi Moore. His original idea involved more films, he said.
“It starts with me and I’m in ‘Wicked’ and I’m all green, finishing ‘Defying Gravity’ or one of those songs,” O’Brien said. “And I finish it and then you cut to the next thing which is ‘Gladiator II’ and clang, clang, clang with swords and you see that I’m a gladiator but then you notice that I’m still green. And then you go on to ‘Conclave’ and you see people voting with their ballots and one of the hands is still green.”
The running joke about being green – like best actress nominee Cynthia Erivo’s ‘Wicked” character Elphaba – continued with more movies, including “Dune: Part Two” and “Nosferatu,” he said.
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