Former late-night host Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars amid rave reviews of his job helming this year’s 97th Academy Awards.
O’Brien received praise for his job hosting the 2025 Oscars where the telecast viewership jumped to its highest ratings in five years, according to The <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-conan-obrien-host-2026-1236164868/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=exacttarget&amp;utm_campaign=Today+In+Entertainment+March+17+2025&amp;utm_content=594036_3-17-2025&amp;utm_id=594036&amp;utm_term=9718857">Hollywood Reporter</a>.
“We are thrilled to bring back Conan, Raj, Katy, Jeff and Mike for the 98th Oscars,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and outgoing president Janet Yang said in a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday.
“This year, they produced a hugely entertaining and visually stunning show that celebrated our nominees and the global film community in the most beautiful and impactful way,” it added.
“Conan was the perfect host — skillfully guiding us through the evening with humor, warmth and reverence. It is an honor to be working with them again.”
O’Brien later released his own statement, cracking a joke about Adrien Brody, who set a record this year for the longest Oscars acceptance speech when he won Best Actor for “The Brutalist,” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5330694/conan-obrien-oscars-host#:~:text=Comedian%2C%20longtime%20talk%20show%20host,Arts%20and%20Sciences%20announced%20Monday.">NPR</a> noted.
&#8220;The only reason I&#8217;m hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech,” the former talk show host said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 Oscars, after earning rave reviews and helping to net a five-year high in total Oscars viewership. <a href="https://t.co/5MPQK4XE0H">https://t.co/5MPQK4XE0H</a>
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) <a href="https://twitter.com/VanityFair/status/1901710373604212928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
It was initially reported that total viewership of the O&#8217;Brien hosted Academy Awards was down 7%, with approximately 18.1 million people tuning in to watch the 97th Academy Awards on ABC.
However, those numbers were later revised to show that a total of 19.7 million viewers watched the show, making it the most-watched primetime entertainment program of the 2024-2025 season, that wasn’t sports or news, the Academy noted. The Oscars also had the highest rating in the key demographic of adults, ages 18-49, scoring a 4.54 rating, per the Academy.
To put those numbers into context, in 2022, the Academy Awards had 16.6 million viewers, 18.8 million in 2023, and 19.5 million in 2024.
As host of the 2025 Oscars, O’Brien mainly steered away from politics and cracked jokes about things like “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies">Emilia Pérez</a>” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who became the first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">trans-identifying</a> man in history to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Pretending to be Gascon’s publicist, O’Brien held his hand up to his head like he was on the phone and screamed, “You tweeted what?!” Gascon recently made headlines due to unearthed tweets that went viral, which included critical statements on Muslims and George Floyd.
The 98th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026. It will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live once again on ABC, the Academy noted.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-all-the-winners-of-the-97th-oscars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here Are All The Winners Of The 97th Oscars</a>

Conan O’Brien

Conan To Return For 2026 Oscars Amid Rave Reviews

Academy Awards

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Conan O’Brien revealed a few skits he proposed for his hosting gig earlier this month at the 97th Academy Awards that were rejected due to how they presented the famous gold Oscar statue.
The late-night host avoided most hot-button topics and politics during his time onstage, but he did want to have some fun with the Oscar statue. The 61-year-old celeb said the Academy turned him down, however.
O’Brien said his idea was to portray a 9-foot-tall Oscar statue as his domestic partner, Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/conan-obrien-scrapped-oscars-opening-movie-parody-1236336452/">reported</a>. “We’re fighting about things couples fight about,” he said of the concept during a recent episode of the “Conan Needs a Friend” podcast he did with head Oscars writer Mike Sweeney. 
“At one point, I thought wouldn’t it be great if it’s just on the couch? 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?’ We wanted to do it and they just said, ‘No, no no, that can’t happen.’”
“One of the people from the Academy came forward and said, ‘Oscar can never be horizontal.’ And that blew my mind. Like, wow, this is like the thigh bone of St. Peter. This is a religious icon,” the comedian added.
O’Brien said when he pitched the idea of the Oscar statue wearing an apron and serving him dinner, he was told, “No clothing on Oscar. Oscar is always naked.” 
Another proposed concept that never got off the ground included O’Brien inserting himself into some of the Best Picture-nominated features, starting with “Wicked.”
“It was the idea that, ‘Oh, Conan’s now going to goof on all the movies,’” O’Brien said. “It starts with me and I’m in ‘Wicked’ and I’m all green, finishing ‘Defying Gravity’ or one of those songs. 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 whole thing was that the dye wouldn’t come off and we had to shoot it in one day,” he said. 
Overall, O’Brien was praised for his hosting performance, with the major complaint being that the whole thing was played too safe, and the ceremony ended up long and boring.

Conan O’Brien Reflects On Rejected Oscars Bit: ‘This Is A Religious Icon’

Conan O'Brien Reflects On Rejected Oscars Bit: 'This Is A Religious Icon'

Oscars viewership was down 7% this year, with approximately 18.1 million people tuning in to watch the 97th Academy Awards on ABC.
The total number is calculated by adding the Nielsen measurement of viewers on ABC to live streaming viewers watching the ceremony on Hulu. This is the first time numbers have decreased since 2021, when just 10.4 million viewers tuned in following the COVID pandemic, per <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/oscars-ratings-2025-viewers-1236326364/">Variety</a>.
Viewership has steadily been increasing since then until this year’s drop. The Academy Awards had 16.6 million viewers in 2022, 18.8 million in 2023, and 19.5 million in 2024, the outlet noted.
Despite fewer viewers, the broadcast was the most-watched primetime entertainment program this year that wasn’t sports or news. The Oscars also had the highest rating in the 18-49 demographic, increasing 3% compared to last year.
The outlet also noted that there were technical difficulties for people watching the awards on Hulu, which disrupted the broadcast just before Best Picture was announced at the end of the night.
First-time host Conan O’Brien mostly steered clear of politics and other hot-button issues throughout the night. “I think as host, I cannot ignore the moment we’re in right now, but also it’s threading a needle,” he said ahead of the hosting gig. 
“I want to do it with humor and also make sure the night doesn’t drift into only about that,” O’Brien added.
The comedian took a jab at Karla Sofia Gascón, a trans-identifying actor who was up for Best Actress, over old social media posts and joked about the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud. He also added a joke about the Catholic Church while referencing the film &#8220;Conclave.&#8221;
“Anora,” a drama about a prostitute who weds a Russian oligarch, was the big winner on Sunday night, bringing home five golden statues. One of the most controversial moments of the evening came when Best Actress winner Mikey Madison thanked the “sex worker community” for her win.
Best Actor winner Adrien Brody refused to leave the stage when the music started playing and proceeded to give the longest acceptance speech in the history of the Academy Awards.
Another controversial moment came after “No Other Land” won Best Documentary Feature Film. The anti-Israel project was directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and left-wing Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.
“We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control, there is a different path,” Abraham <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-documentary-winner-gives-anti-israel-speech-slams-u-s-foreign-policy">said</a> during his speech. “There is a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I’m here, the foreign policy in [the United States] is helping to block this path.”

Oscars Viewership Dropped This Year For First Time Since COVID

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Conan O’Brien praised late-comedian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/norm-macdonald-says-he-didnt-want-to-leave-anything-on-the-table-as-he-jokes-about-mortality-and-death-in-final-stand-up-special" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norm Macdonald</a>’s past jokes about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/o-j-simpson-dead-at-76-following-battle-with-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O.J. Simpson</a>’s murder trial that resulted in Macdonald losing his job at “Saturday Night Live.”
During the late-night talk show host’s appearance on Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the two talked about the news of the day &#8212; Simpson’s death at 76 following a battle with prostate cancer, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/conan-obrien-recalls-nbc-network-chief-tight-oj-fired-snls-norm-macdonald">Fox News</a> reported.
“It was a huge deal back then,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said as he noted the murder trial coverage from comedians. &#8220;Most notably – he’s passed on – Norm Macdonald, one of my best guests of all time and one of the great comedians of all time…”
“[He] just told some of the most – did the most brilliant, I think, comedy of anybody during that whole period,” he added, noting the jokes the late-star did following Simpson’s acquittal in the 1995 double murder trial of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Conan O&#8217;Brien Says Norm Macdonald Did the &#8216;Most Brilliant Comedy&#8217; About O.J. Simpson on &#8216;SNL&#8217; When &#8216;the Head of the Network Was Tight With O.J.&#8217; <a href="https://t.co/NvFshFEbpq">https://t.co/NvFshFEbpq</a>
— Variety (@Variety) <a href="https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1778805935089091040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
Tapper replied, “Lost his job at ‘SNL’ because he was making fun of O.J. Simpson for being the real killer.&#8221;
&#8220;Yes,&#8221; O’Brien replied, and said that “the head of the network at the time was tight with O.J.,” without naming the executive.
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&#8220;Don Ohlmeyer?&#8221; Tapper asked, to which the comedian laughed, &#8220;Who can remember these names.&#8221;
&#8220;Anyway, water under the bridge,” O’Brien added. “But that was a huge moment in history, I think, of this country.&#8221;
&#8220;It was a, you know, massive – there have been many times in this country where we’ve needed to stop and reassess where we are in our racial history, and where are we, what progress have we made, and that was one of those moments and it was such a watershed moment,&#8221; O’Brien continued.
Tapper then asked O’Brien if he was going to make a joke about Simpson, and he replied, &#8220;I never make a joke about someone the day they pass.”
The late-night talk show host wasn’t the only one remembering Norm’s jokes on Thursday, with clips of Macdonald going viral on social media about his cracks at &#8220;The Juice&#8221; and saying that murder was &#8220;legal in the state of California&#8221; after Simpson&#8217;s acquittal, Fox News noted.
Despite the pro athlete being acquitted during the criminal trial, he was found liable for Brown Simpson and Goldman&#8217;s deaths three years later in a civil trial brought by the victims’ families and was ordered to pay more than $33 million in damages.
Simpson was later arrested in Las Vegas and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping in 2007. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison with a minimum of nine years without parole and was released in 2017 after serving that minimum. The former NFL star was released from parole in 2021.
Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.

Sean Penn, Bryan Lourd And Vivi Nevo Host 10th Anniversary Gala Benefiting CORE – Arrivals

Conan O’Brien Praises Late-Comedian Norm Macdonald’s O.J. Simpson Jokes That Got Him Fired From ‘SNL’

Norm MacDonald

O.J. Simpson

Saturday Night Live

The news out of Haiti the past few weeks has not been very good.
This should come as no great surprise, as the news out of Haiti has not been very good for the past 200 years or so. It is, of course, one of the most miserable and destitute places in the world: 60% of the country lives below the poverty line. The average life expectancy is under 65. I could go on listing depressing statistics, but that’s probably not necessary.
And yet somehow, recently, life in Haiti has gotten even worse. The situation has sunk below Haiti’s already extremely low baseline. If you lived in the country, you would right now be pining for the old days when you were merely miserable, starving, and destitute. That was far better than what’s happening now.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1324-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
What’s happening now is that the Haitian government, to the extent that it ever existed, has collapsed. Violent gangs have taken over the country and are prowling the streets executing people at random. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/09/haiti-corpses-gangs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes the scene</a>:
<blockquote>On a ride through the gang-controlled streets of Haiti’s capital on Friday, past an improvised barricade, the motorcycle taxi reached a crossroad. First came the smell — of something burning. Then, the sight: a corpse, charred black, lying in the middle of street, its bones and feet sticking out of the pile of ash. The night before, Jimmy Boursiquot, a carpenter who lives nearby, heard two gunshots. Peering carefully out his window, checking his watch — it was 8:24 p.m. — he saw two men drive away, leaving the body behind, not far from a university administration office and one of Haiti’s largest telecommunications companies. A few hours later, he said, the men returned and burned the remains. The streets of Port-au-Prince reek with the stench of the dead. It’s a grisly new marker of the violence and dysfunction in this beleaguered Caribbean nation of 11 million people. In the absence of a functioning state, violent armed gangs have taken control of more than 80 percent of the capital, the United Nations estimates. Gunfire crackles at all hours. Residents who dare leave their homes stumble across bodies that have been left where they fell. Port-au-Prince reached a high of 92 degrees on Friday. The smell of decaying corpses, human rights activists say, has driven some people from their homes.</blockquote>
It’s a terrible picture. And it only gets worse, the more you look. Consider the guy who has now seized control of the country — a notorious gang leader going by the moniker “Barbecue” — who has launched a war against the remnants of the Haitian government while attacking prisons and freeing thousands of violent criminals in order to then recruit them into his gang. And if you’re assuming that there must be some horrific reason why the Haitian warlord has been nicknamed “Barbecue,” you’re right. It’s exactly what you think. Reportedly, he earned the name due to his habit of setting people on fire. In fact, Barbecue has been basically the de facto leader of Haiti for a while now. This is in spite of the fact that, nearly a year and a half ago, the UN leveled sanctions on Barbecue. 
As NBC News reported at the time, it was a move that was supposed to bring about “more peaceful days”:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 UN Considers Sanctions" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OkQSH8yUwfU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, shockingly, that didn’t work out. The sternly worded letters to the third world gang leader named Barbecue somehow didn’t have any noticeable effect. Barbecue didn’t listen to the UN press conferences and read their letters and say, “Gee, you know what? These folks are right. I should stop brutalizing innocent people.” That was not his response, which no doubt came as a shock to the UN.
Now things have gotten so bad that, according to reports circulating all over social media, the violent gangs terrorizing Haiti have even resorted to cannibalism. That’s the thing about Haiti. If it has proven anything over the past couple of centuries, it’s that a bad situation can always get worse, and then the worse situation can get even worse than that.
Unfortunately for us, here in the United States, Haiti is a violent, war-torn failed state that happens to sit not very far from our own borders. Which means that we have already been taking in thousands of illegal Haitian migrants every year, and those numbers are only going to go up.
How many of the illegal Haitian migrants are members of the brutal gangs terrorizing their country? How many are escaped prisoners? Now we must even apparently ask: how many are cannibals? These are questions that the Biden Administration certainly won’t concern itself with, and hasn’t concerned itself with. We will be called to open our arms to the downtrodden Haitians, even if that means our arms will be chopped off and eaten for breakfast.
But that’s not the point we’re focusing on right now. As important as the point is. Instead, recent events in Haiti have prompted a bit of a trip down memory lane for some conservatives on social media, who have reminded us about one of the many frivolous, media-invented controversies of the first Trump Administration.
You may recall that, way back in 2018, the Left became outraged and deeply offended when it was reported that President Trump had referred to Haiti as a “s***hole” — or craphole, as I will call it. According to reports at the time, Trump referred to Haiti and other third world countries as crapholes during a discussion on immigration. It was one of the many times when Trump reportedly said something that every normal American either has said, or would say.
Certainly, no normal person, if they heard someone in their everyday life call Haiti a crap hole, would respond with shock and horror. “How could you say that about Haiti?! It’s a wonderful place!” That’s not how any normal person would respond. But the media is not comprised of normal people which is why there was a lengthy outrage cycle which was over the top and histrionic even by the Left’s current standards.
The media proceeded to spend several days defending the beauty and majesty of the great nation of Haiti. There were many headlines like this from Mother Jones: “Despite It All, Haiti Is Still Not a Craphole.” And this from the Washington Post: “This is how ignorant you have to be to call Haiti a ‘Craphole.’” By the way, the title of the Washington Post article I read at the start of the monologue is: “Haitians shot dead in street and there’s no one to take the corpses away.” What a difference a few years makes. I wonder: can we call Haiti a craphole now, or would that still be “ignorant”?
But back to 2018, where this became a subject of discussion and condemnation on the late night alleged comedy shows as well. Here was Stephen Colbert registering his objections:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Stephen Colbert" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_RBXUYfYmRI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Yes. Amen. Donald Trump isn’t the president of Haiti. Instead the de facto president of Haiti is a genocidal warlord named Barbecue. And he’s so much better than Donald Trump. After all, Donald Trump will use vulgar language that hurts your feelings. Barbecue will hack you into pieces and throw your mangled body into a bonfire. Which, I’m sure we can all agree, is greatly preferable to having our feelings hurt.
But Colbert wasn’t the only late night host sticking up for Haiti. Conan O’Brien was on the case as well:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Conan Slams Trump" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zOAThp5LAoo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Absolutely. Lovely people. Even the cannibals. They are the loveliest cannibals the world has ever seen. And Conan didn’t stop there. 
He then embarked on a campaign to defend Haiti’s reputation. It was a campaign that even had its own merchandise:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Haiti is great already Conan" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yDym1pgnIHk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Just as a general rule here, if you can “make a difference” for a country by selling t-shirts, that’s a pretty good indication that it is not, by any reasonable metric, a great country. A second general rule is this: if a country is a failed state stricken by mass poverty and run by criminal gangs led by a guy named Barbecue, it is not a great country. It is not a great country now. And it wasn’t back then. Despite the claims of leftists who are so determined to oppose Donald Trump on every single point that they were even baited into pretending that Haiti is a utopian paradise.
My dream is that, if Trump wins in 2024, the first thing he’ll do is declare that it’s not a good idea to get into a rocket ship and fly directly into the Sun, so that Stephen Colbert will try to prove him wrong on that point too. “Oh yeah? You think the Sun isn’t a good place to visit? At least Donald Trump isn’t president of the Sun,” Colbert will declare moments before being incinerated.
Not to belabor a point that normal people don’t need explained in the first place, but, no, Haiti is not a great country. The word “great” in this context may have some ambiguity to it — people can define great in different ways — but at the most basic level a great country is one where its people are generally able to thrive and prosper. “Great” can mean more than that, but it must mean at least that. It is incoherent to describe a country where almost nobody prospers as “great.” It is much more coherent to describe such a country as a craphole. Indeed, you can usually detect the craphole countries, and distinguish them from the great countries, because people from the craphole countries are always trying to get into the great countries. It never goes the other way around. There has never been a flood of illegal migrants from the United States going into Haiti. The flood has always gone the other way.
And of course that brings us back to the most important point in all of this. The end result, the self-fulfilling prophesy we might say, which is that America becomes less great the more that it allows unchecked immigration from the very not-great countries. We are not a craphole like Haiti. But import enough of Haiti into this country, and we might eventually get there.
Then we will be the utopia that Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien dream of. Then maybe they’ll wear “America is Great Already” hats. And walk proudly down the street in that attire. Before they are descended upon by the cannibal hordes and promptly consumed. That’s what greatness is to them, apparently.

Haiti Experiences Surge Of Gang Violence

Haiti Descends Into Chaos As Our Borders Remain Wide Open

Donald Trump

gangs

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Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

Stephen Colbert

Violence

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/adam-sandler">Adam Sandler</a> admitted that being around one celebrity in particular makes him nervous.
The 57-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/comedian">comedian</a> made the revelation during an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8vS0Ac3bNs">episode</a> of SiriusXM&#8217;s “Conan O&#8217;Brien Needs a Friend” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">podcast</a>. Sandler told O’Brien that his feelings of discomfort around international superstar Taylor Swift have everything to do with his two daughters, 17-year-old Sadie and 15-year-old Sunny, who he shares with his wife, Jackie.
&#8220;You know what, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a>, because what she means to my kids, I get a little f***ing jumpy. Just cause I don&#8217;t wanna blow it for my kids,&#8221; Sandler said during a conversation about celebrities who make them feel a certain way. &#8220;So I&#8217;m a little like, &#8216;Taylor, Taylor,&#8217; like I talk a little too loud or something. I don&#8217;t act as cool as I can.&#8221;
&#8220;You yell her name outside her house. Taylor!&#8221; O&#8217;Brien quipped. 
&#8220;Talk to me,&#8221; Sandler replied.
&#8220;Speak to me. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. She&#8217;s this whole other level now,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said.
&#8220;People talk about The Beatles of it all and her… I mean, so many smash hits. There&#8217;s not a word my kids don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Sandler continued.
&#8220;Yeah, my daughter, it means so much,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien replied.
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&#8220;I know them too, by the way. But they know them inside and out,&#8221; Sandler said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s, just remember The Beatles, every f***ing song on the record, you knew? That&#8217;s Taylor Swift too. You just, there&#8217;s not a song you skip. You go, that one&#8217;s pretty damn cool.&#8221;
“Very few people have hit that level of fame,” O’Brien said, joking that he’s one of them. 
Sunny performed a cover of Swift’s hit song “Lover” at one of her dad’s stand-up comedy shows in October. 
The comedian was also spotted <a href="https://people.com/taylor-swift-hugs-adam-sandlers-daughters-eras-tour-film-8356274">attending</a> the Los Angeles premiere of the smash hit movie, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” along with his two daughters. Swift was photographed stopping briefly to hug Sandler, Sunny, and Sadie on her way out of the theater at the film’s conclusion. 
Sandler previously talked about his love for his daughters.
“My daughters, Sadie and Sunshine,” he <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1395042/adam-sandler-has-plenty-of-nsfw-jokes-while-accepting-peoples-icon-award-at-2024-peoples-choice-awards">said</a> while accepting People’s Icon Award at the People’s Choice Awards earlier this month. “Not a minute goes by without me thinking of and how much I love you. You’re my best friends and my darling wife Jackie, you are my partner for life. I love every car ride and every kiss we’ve ever had.”

Sandler and Swift

Adam Sandler Admits He Gets ‘A Little Jumpy’ Around Taylor Swift

Adam Sandler Admits He Gets 'A Little Jumpy' Around Taylor Swift

Adam Sandler

comedian

Taylor Swift

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/harrison-ford">Harrison Ford</a> mocked late night host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/conan-obrien">Conan O’Brien</a> for having his iconic “Star Wars” character&#8217;s name written in his notes.
The incident occurred during a recent episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast after the “Indiana Jones” actor realized that O’Brien had “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/star-wars">Han Solo</a>” written in his interview notes. 
“I refer you to this piece of paper right here,” O’Brien said. “That says, ‘Born and raised in Chicago to an Irish German father—&#8217;”
When Ford leaned over and looked at the paper, he noticed that it included notes about his role as Han Solo, as <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/harrison-ford-roasts-conan-obrien-han-solo-note-reminder-interview-1235662615">Variety</a> reported.
“Well if that’s a quality of your research, and I imagine it is because right there it says ‘Harrison Ford’ and then you had to write ‘Han Solo,&#8217;” Ford said. “You can’t f***ing remember that?”
“No I can’t. I can’t remember Han Solo,” O’Brien jokingly replied. “I wrote it down because I heard that you were in some of the ‘Star Wars films, and this was news to me because I’ve seen those films and I don’t exactly think that you &#8216;pop.&#8217;”
“I’m sorry. But I mean, I remember Chewbacca, I remember the bad guy with the black helmet and then … there’s some people,” the podcast host added.
The pair continued with their verbal sparring. 
“You came on my show many many times, on the ‘Late Night’ show,” O’Brien told Ford. “And over the years people would say, ‘Who’s one of your favorite guests?’ And I would say, ‘Harrison Ford, because he’s so g**damn funny.’ You are so hilariously funny and you tossed me around like a rag doll, verbally, on these shows, and they’re some of my favorite segments of all time. You are a hilarious man and I’ve always loved being around you.”
“You guys wrote some great stuff,” Ford said. “I don’t remember any of it.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Conan Asks If Harrison Ford Remembers Him | Conan O&#039;Brien Needs A Friend" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9RGl8UQdq9I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ford, 80, previously said that “Indiana Jones 5” will be his last film playing the character. The movie had a $60 million opening against a $295 million budget. Ford was notorious for saying he objected to anyone else portraying the action star that he’s been playing since the first movie premiered in 1981.

OBrien and Ford

Harrison Ford Mocks Conan O’Brien For Written Reminder He Plays Han Solo: ‘You Can’t F***ing Remember That?’

Harrison Ford Mocks Conan O'Brien For Written Reminder He Plays Han Solo: 'You Can't F***ing Remember That?'

Harrison Ford

Star Wars

Former late-night host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/conan-obrien">Conan O&#8217;Brien</a> mocked the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/white-house">White House</a> on Wednesday, making a crack about the administration downplaying and denying the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/economy">economic</a> <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/recession">recession</a> hurting Americans.
Treasury Secretary <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a> turned heads over the weekend when she denied that the U.S. economy is in a recession, instead saying we&#8217;re in a “period of transition in which growth is slowing,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellen-were-not-in-a-recession-were-in-a-transition-in-which-growth-is-slowing">The Daily Wire</a> reported.
&#8220;The White House now says it’s only a recession if you see a salamander wearing a top hat,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien mocked on Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The White House now says it’s only a recession if you see a salamander wearing a top hat.
&mdash; Conan O&#39;Brien (@ConanOBrien) <a href="https://twitter.com/ConanOBrien/status/1552358211986006019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Despite the White House denial, the U.S. has suffered two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which most economists widely define as a recession, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-in-a-recession-after-second-straight-quarter-of-negative-growth">reported</a> Thursday morning.
“This is not an economy that’s in recession,” Yellen contended, speaking to NBC host Chuck Todd on Sunday. “But we’re in a period of transition in which growth is slowing and that’s necessary and appropriate and we need to be growing at a steady and sustainable pace. So there is a slowdown and businesses can see that and that’s appropriate, given that people now have jobs and we have a strong labor market.”
Again trying to deny the economic reality, a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/07/07/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-3/">post</a> last week told Americans that the nation is “stronger economically than we have been in history.&#8221;
“While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/">insisted</a>. “Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data — including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year — even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter — indicates a recession.”
Further, on Tuesday, Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese said, “two negative quarters of GDP growth is not the technical definition of recession,&#8221; seemingly trying to bail out the Biden administration.
“It’s not the definition that economists have traditionally relied on,” the Biden economic adviser said, appearing at a White House press briefing, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/07/27/white-house-takes-heat-after-biden-adviser-accused-of-redefining-recession/">reported</a>.
However, by Wednesday, comments from Deese back in 2008 resurfaced online.
“Economists have a technical definition of recession, which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth,” Deese said in 2008, according to RNC Research.
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THREAD
Biden’s economic advisors know a recession is defined as two quarters of negative GDP growth. They’ve said so:
Biden’s NEC Director Brian Deese in March 2008: “economists have a technical definition of recession, which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth.” <a href="https://t.co/RnoWSGbJrE">pic.twitter.com/RnoWSGbJrE</a>
&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1552369806413905923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-in-a-recession-after-second-straight-quarter-of-negative-growth">U.S. In A Recession After Second Straight Quarter Of Negative Growth</a>

WarnerMedia Upfront 2019 – Show

Conan O’Brien Posts Tweet Mocking White House Dodge On Recession

Biden Administration

Janet Yellen

Recession

White House

Comedian Conan O&#8217;Brien and actor Jeff Goldblum recently bonded over the fact that they both almost met legendary singer and songwriter Bob Dylan — but at the last minute, in both cases, something had happened to derail the meeting.
Goldblum, speaking to <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/sean-penn-conan-obrien-denounce-cancel-culture-calling-it-soviet/">O&#8217;Brien</a> on Sunday&#8217;s episode of the comedian&#8217;s podcast &#8220;Conan O&#8217;Brien Needs a Friend,&#8221; said that he had seen <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/bob-dylan-to-sell-catalog-for-upwards-of-300m/">Dylan</a> while he was shopping with his wife, former Olympic rhythmic gymnast Emilie Livingston.
O&#8217;Brien began by referencing a previous meeting with Goldblum when the latter had recommended a good place to go for jeans. &#8220;It&#8217;s like the John Wyck hotel, but for clothes,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien explained, saying that there was a place in the back where they also made hats.
&#8220;You know who I ran into there once? I was with Emilie, we went there to pick up a pair of jeans or a hat or something. And, um, it was just us and Bob Dylan,&#8221; <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/jeff-goldblum-under-fire-for-questioning-anti-gay-anti-woman-aspects-of-islam/">Goldblum</a> explained, to which O&#8217;Brien exclaimed, &#8220;Oh my God!&#8221;
Goldblum went on to say that he had been talking with someone about his own purchase when he saw Dylan walk in, and by the time he had wrapped up his own business, Dylan had already come and gone.
&#8220;He got his hats from that guy. I saw him outta the corner of my eye. I kept — I had really important business. I was talking about a hat and he came in and before I could say anything to him, he left,&#8221; Goldblum said. &#8220;But I think Emily, I don’t know if she said anything.&#8221;
O&#8217;Brien seemed surprised. &#8220;You didn&#8217;t go up to him?&#8221; he asked — and Goldblum replied, &#8220;No, no. I wish I had.&#8221;
The comedian then revealed his own almost-history with Dylan, saying that he had been backstage at a Dylan concert waiting to meet the singer when then-Vice President Al Gore had swept in and gotten all the attention.
&#8220;I went to see some concert of his and I was backstage and someone pushed me to the front of a line and there he was, the great Bob Dylan. It’s my one chance to meet him. All the conversation stopped and Bob Dylan looked at me and he went, &#8216;I know you from the TV,'&#8221; O&#8217;Brien said. &#8220;And just then, the other person backstage was Vice President Al Gore. And then I hear &#8216;Conan, Conan, it’s me Al Gore.&#8217;
&#8220;And I go, what? We’re all there for — We’re all there for a concert to see Bob Dylan performing. And he goes like, &#8216;I love rock and roll,&#8217; you know? And suddenly he’s talking to me and, and I see Bob Dylan scuttle away. I was c***-blocked with Bob Dylan by Vice President Al Gore. That’s a true story!&#8221; O&#8217;Brien concluded.
Listen to the full episode here:
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Amazon Prime Video’s “Upload” Season 2 Premiere – Arrivals

‘I Was C***-Blocked!’: Conan O’Brien Says Al Gore Ruined His One Chance To Meet Bob Dylan

Conan O'Brien Says Al Gore Ruined His One Chance To Meet Bob Dylan

Al Gore

Bob Dylan

Comedy

Music

MSNBC guest Laurie Kilmartin brought a panel discussion to a screeching halt when she claimed that she&#8217;d like to &#8220;make sweet love&#8221; to whoever leaked the early opinion draft regarding the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women&#8217;s health Organization.
The <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/clarence-thomas-speaks-out-on-draft-leak-says-court-cant-be-bullied/">draft</a>, written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, indicated that the court might be preparing to <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/mcconnell-claims-a-national-abortion-ban-is-possible-if-roe-v-wade-is-overturned/">overturn</a> two landmark abortion rulings — Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey — and return control of abortion restrictions and legislation to the states.
Kilmartin, a staff writer for Conan O&#8217;Brien, joined a panel discussion on the topic moderated by MSNBC&#8217;s Ayman Mohyeldin — who began the discussion with the claim that Republicans were relying on the court to advance their agenda because the American people would not vote for it.
&#8220;Do you agree that this is going against the undemocratic will, but this is the only way Republicans can achieve this?&#8221; he asked.
&#8220;Yeah, I guess so,&#8221; Kilmartin replied. &#8221;
Here’s my feeling about the leaker. I would like to find out who the leaker is, so I could make sweet love to that person, because that person is a hero to me. Okay? And if the leaker — a lot of people are saying it could be a conservative — if the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus, and let them know.&#8221;
&#8220;I don’t know if that answered your question. I probably didn’t,&#8221; Kilmartin continued as Mohyeldin and the other panelists struggled to keep their laughter under control.
Kilmartin later suggested that if Roe were to be overturned, every Democrat in Congress who was over the age of 87 should protest the decision by going on a hunger strike.
Her comment came about when Mohyeldin asked what she believed Democrats should be doing now, especially in the context of criticisms for those who had not worked to codify Roe and cement the right to abortion with legislation when former President Barack Obama had a supermajority in Congress.
&#8220;Well, this is controversial, but I think that every Democratic member of Congress who’s over the age of 87 should go on a hunger strike for abortion rights, because let’s face it, they don’t have much longer anyway. You might as well go out a hero in a blaze of glory. Be the Bobby Sands of abortion,&#8221; Kilmartin concluded, referencing the Irish Republican Army member who died after going on a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-56937259">hunger strike</a> while in prison.
&#8220;You know I am a comedian. I know we have like two very serious answers and I’m just giving a joke, and everybody’s like, that’s a terrible policy. It is, guys. You don’t have to take me seriously,&#8221; Kilmartin added.

The Late Late Show with James Corden

‘You Don’t Have To Take Me Seriously’: MSNBC Guest Says She’d ‘Make Sweet Love’ To SCOTUS Leaker, Then ‘Joyfully Abort’ The Baby

MSNBC Guest Says She'd 'Make Sweet Love' To SCOTUS Leaker, Then 'Joyfully Abort' The Baby

Abortion

MSNBC

Roe v. Wade's Long And Brutal Legacy

Supreme Court

Paul Rudd has been trolling Conan O’Brien for years, and he just did it again and got away with it because O’Brien never saw it coming. The incident went down during an appearance Rudd made on the “Conan O&#8217;Brien Needs a Friend” <a href="https://www.earwolf.com/episode/paul-rudd-returns/">podcast</a>. 
Fans will remember that over the years, the actor would appear on O’Brien’s late-night show and start talking about a project he was working on, often coming up with elaborate set-ups full of detail and specifics. But then instead of playing a promo of whatever he was talking about, the actor would instead show a weird 30-second clip from the 1988 bomb “Mac and Me” of a child speeding down a hillside in an uncontrollable wheelchair.
It was like Rudd’s personal version of rickrolling just for O’Brien.
Rudd’s most recent troll happened earlier this week and was especially hilarious because of how unexpected it was. As usual, the actor prefaced the prank with a long-winded setup, this time talking about developing his own scripted podcast for Audible. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s been really kind of great because I don&#8217;t normally get the opportunity to work on my own things like that,” Rudd said. &#8220;I&#8217;m usually a hired gun. But it&#8217;s been fun, and I&#8217;ve been working on it and recording it with my friends.&#8221;
Rudd went on to describe the all-star cast, which he claimed included Adam Scott, Ken Marino, and Celia Watson. The “Knocked Up” alum said he would appear in the series as a publicist who falls in love with a woman working in a New Orleans craft store.
After describing his exciting new project for a few minutes, Rudd offhandedly mentioned that he has a clip to share with O’Brien as a teaser if he wanted to hear it. “We’ve recorded it,” the actor said, “If you want to play a little bit of it …”
“Sure!” O’Brien replied.
Fans laughed when they found out it was none other than the infamous “Mac and Me” clip that Rudd keeps tricking him with.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Paul Rudd Surprises Conan With A Clip From His New Podcast | Conan O&#039;Brien Needs A Friend" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TyBzqhz6n_M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Oh for Christ&#8217;s sake!&#8221; O&#8217;Brien exclaimed upon finding out he’d been fooled again. &#8220;Why? Why! You can&#8217;t do this on a podcast! That&#8217;s why I didn&#8217;t see it coming! &#8230;  It&#8217;s a visual joke!&#8221;
Rudd replied with a laugh. “I know, would it work that way? I dunno!” 
“Was there any truth to anything you said in the setup?” O’Brien asked next.
“No,” said Rudd. “None of that was true.”
“Oh, Jesus,” O’Brien said upon realizing he’d been so utterly fooled once again. “The joke continues. You had me completely fooled, honestly, because I didn’t think … you can’t do that on a podcast,” the late-night host said again.
Maybe next time he won’t trust a word Rudd said. It would be funnier if he kept believing him, though.
Enter for the chance to hang out with Gina Carano at the premiere of her new Daily Wire movie, Terror on the Prairie! Two lucky Daily Wire members will be given the complete red carpet treatment &#8211; free airfare, hotel, premiere car service, and exclusive merch. Daily Wire members can click<a href="http://www.dailywire.com/redcarpet"> here</a> to enter for a chance to win. If you’re not a Daily Wire member yet, click<a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe"> here</a> to join us so you can win this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Conan O’Brien – Season 12

Paul Rudd Trolls Conan O’Brien With ‘Mac And Me’ Clip Yet Again; ‘You Can’t Do This On A Podcast!’

It seems even Hollywood’s most notorious left-wing activists are waking up to the dangers of cancel culture.
In the July 5 episode of the podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” the recently retired host of “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” asked veteran actor Sean Penn about the trend of destroying careers for past political incorrectness.
“Empathy is a very important word and also forgiveness,” said O’Brien. “We found that someone did something in 1979 that is now not appropriate. They’re dead to us.” O’Brien went on to describe cancel culture as “very Soviet,” saying, “People can also be forgiven. If they even need forgiving. What happened to that?”
Penn agreed with O’Brien, calling the practice “ludicrous.”
In illustration, Penn brought up Alexi McCammond, editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue who was fired after only a few weeks on the job for anti-Asian comments she tweeted as a teenager. “When we’re destroying careers like that, what are we really achieving? What are we doing?” the Oscar-winning star of films like “I Am Sam” and “Mystic River” wondered.
The two men then turned to how the trend is impacting their particular genres of show business with Penn pointing out that he would no longer be considered for a part like groundbreaking gay activist Harvey Milk because he’s straight.
“Today, almost certainly I would not be permitted to be cast in that role,” Penn said. “We’re living in a time when, if you’re playing a gay lead character, you’d have to be a gay man or a trans character. And there have been these casting issues.&#8221;
He then warned that the Left has pushed the cause of “representation&#8221; too far. “When you have a period of evolution that certainly has an opportunity for people who have had less opportunities to move forward. That has to be supported, and yet in this pendulum swing society that we’re in, you wonder at some point if only Danish Princes can play Hamlet. It is, I believe, too restrictive. People are looking for gotcha moments and to criticize.&#8221;
O’Brien likened Penn’s experience to the current tendency among late-night talk show hosts to make comedy political—a trend he has pointedly resisted because, he said, it can lead to “losing your way” when it comes to being funny:
“I know people in comedy, people who do the job that I do that feel like there’s so much that’s happening that doesn’t feel funny that they feel like it’s their job to speak out about those things,” he said, adding. “And I think, yes that’s great but it’s easy for that to just turn into anger and outrage, and then you’re not, you feel like you’re losing your way as a comedian. And I think that’s what gets so tricky right now.”
O’Brien continued, “The job is ‘how can I reflect some of what’s happening around me, but also for me, I just know that I serve at the altar of silliness and comedy and that is what I need to try and get back to. That’s what I need to — that’s where my strength comes and that means, I have to be honest with you, there are times when the news is such that I feel like my comedy can’t have anything to do with it. And some people might say, ‘Well, that’s a cop-out. You should make your comedy about what is happening right now.’ And I just think, frankly, I don’t have that ability. There are times when it’s embarrassing to be in show business.”

Sean Penn Discusses His New Book “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff: A Novel”

Sean Penn, Conan O’Brien Denounce Cancel Culture, Calling It ‘Soviet’

Cancel Culture

Sean Penn

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