The 2025 awards season is well underway, and as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences prepares for the 97th Academy Awards, speculation is mounting over who will host next year.
The 2024 awards season was a mixed bag when it came to presenters, with Jo Koy coming under fire for his performance at the Golden Globes and Jimmy Kimmel returning for a fourth time as emcee for the 96th Academy Awards. Now, the pressure is on to find a new emcee who fits the bill and wants the job.
John Mulaney, Steve Martin and Kimmel have all been considered as possible hosts for the 2025 Oscars, but they have all publicly turned down the opportunity. Here's why.
Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel appeared on the August 12 episode of Politicking podcasthosted by Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson, where he discussed his decision to decline hosting the 2025 Oscars.
“It's difficult. It's a lot of work and [Jimmy Kimmel Live!] “To be honest, your late-night show suffers a little bit, because when I’m focused on the Oscars, I’m less focused on the show. I just decided I didn’t want to deal with that this year. It was too much last year,” he explained. “I was on for two years and it was okay. I was on for another two years and it was okay. I thought I’d take a little break.”
Kimmel said he was not good at balancing his hosting duties with his nightly responsibilities.
“I’m totally committed when it comes to something like the Oscars, I think about it morning and night, and I have ideas, I want to work on them, and then my night show sometimes feels like a hassle,” he said. “It’s fun to do, and it feels good when it goes well, but, for me, [it] “It was too much to do it three years in a row.”
In a March interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Kimmel revealed that he was paid $15,000 to host the show.
“I think most people would say, 'Wait, how many months of work is this for $15,000?'”
As for who he sees as a possible candidate to fill his spot, Kimmel told the Politicking The hosts are not short of good options, but “it's a difficult situation to be in.”
“I think there are a lot of people who would be great hosts of the Oscars, but most of them don’t want to do it,” she said. “A lot of the people who think, ‘Yeah, that person would be great. She would be great! He would be great!’ They know that, but they don’t want to do it.”
John Mulaney
Mulaney, who was acclaimed for his Field of dreams bit at the 2024 Oscars, recently shot down speculation that he would be a contender for the role in a June interview with Variety.
“This March, I have a book signing at Barnes & Noble in the Grove on a Sunday night, so I won’t be able to attend that night,” she said.
According to Puck's Matt Belloni, Mulaney was the Academy's next choice after Kimmel, but “he's already committed to several projects in the winter and spring… so it passed due to scheduling.”
Mulaney insisted he would not host the awards show. In an interview with Vulture.
“I don’t think I’m going to host. I said no,” Mulaney told the outlet. “People tell me I’m not. Yeah, I’m not going to do that.”
Steve Martin
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Martin shared that although the Academy has not offered him the opportunity, he would not be willing to return to host the awards show.
“When I was a host, I started working months in advance. And now I have a completely different life. I'm not as free. It's a lot of work,” he said.
Martin, who has presented the Oscars thrice (2001 and 2003, as well as 2010 alongside Alec Baldwin) and opened the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020 with Chris Rock — adding that the job is “thankless” and unpaid.
“The Golden Globes pay, so they get Tina Fey and Amy [Poehler]“…And Ricky Gervais. The Oscars should be profitable,” he explained. “If you take into account the amount of work, it is at least several months of mental work.”
So what makes finding a host so complicated?
According to Molly McNearney, executive producer and showrunner of Jimmy Kimmel Live!who is also an executive producer of the 2024 Oscars (and is Kimmel's wife), it's because the job is high risk and low reward.
“They’re afraid to put on that show because everyone seems so ready to criticize it. It’s like everyone is at home willing to give their opinion on things. It’s a relatively thankless job,” McNearney told IndieWire.
“When people do really well, you get a pat on the back: ‘Hey, good job. ’ If it doesn’t go well, the host gets blamed for the show’s failures or the ratings. It takes a strong person to be willing to go out there and take a beating. And we’ve seen people who do really well, but we’ve also seen people who don’t do so well. It’s a risky thing. If it doesn’t go well, you can hurt yourself and your name,” he continued.