Oscars 2026: Best, Worst, and Most WTF Moments

To one degree or another, the Oscars are always somewhat of a slog. There’s simply no way to make a three-and-a-half-hour award show enjoyable from start to finish. But this year’s telecast was a bit more of a slog than usual thanks to scripted presenter bits that fell flat (reaching a nadir, arguably, with the evening’s final handout, which saw Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman singing famous songs about love?), tiresome speeches, and ongoing audio and production issues.

Still, the night wasn’t a total loss, because Conan O’Brien was once again brilliant in his second hosting tour of duty. He started the night on a high with an extended segment that poked fun at Weapons, and he kept the energy up until the very last moment, when they inserted his smiling corpse into an incinerator, spoofing One Battle After Another. Along the way, the Academy finally honored a female cinematographer, Amy Madigan won an Oscar 40 years after her first nomination, and Timothée Chalamet had to paint a smile on his thinly mustachioed face when he lost in the lead acting category for a third time. 

Big changes are coming to the Oscars in 2029, when the entire broadcast moves onto YouTube. It’s a chance to radically re-work the show. But let’s hope they leave O’Brien in place as emcee. If he can save a night like the 97th Academy Awards from utter boredom, he can do anything. Here’s a look at the good, the bad, and the simply baffling moments from tonight’s show.

Best: ‘Sinners’ Brings the Juke Joint to the Dolby Theatre

Ryan Coogler’s supernatural vampire thriller broke the record for the most nominations in Oscars history with 16 nods — roughly the same number of people who appeared onstage for this musical performance. But instead of a hectic mass of humans, Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq led a celebratory, sexy, seamless rendition of the film’s track, “I Lied to You.” They were accompanied by recently retired ballet legend Misty Copeland, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and blues legend Buddy Guy — who appeared in the film — among others. “I could not justify [making] a movie with vampires biting into people’s necks without showing this part of me,” Coogler told us last year. “Showing these people with their descendants having a good time. Music is magical.” —Andy Greene

Worst: Babs — and Robert Redford — Deserved Better

In theory, there’s no better person to honor the late Robert Redford than his The Way We Were co-star Barbra Streisand. And there’s no better song for her to sing than the movie’s title track, which won Best Original Song in 1973. But in execution, the Robert Redford tribute was a semi-disaster with poorly executed audio. As Streisand strained to talk over the orchestra, it was hard to make out her breathy words, and her tribute went on for an awkwardly long time. When she finally lifted a mic to sing “The Way We Were,” the performance lasted for just a few bars. We have nothing but love for Babs. This one isn’t on her. But the producers should have worked the kinks out of this segment before broadcasting it to half the world. —A.G.

WTF: A Tie!

In the 97-year history of the Academy Awards, there had only been six ties. It’s an even less likely occurrence in the modern era, since there are more than 10,000 voters. But it happened for a seventh time tonight when The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva (whose producers are shown here) tied for best live-action short film. It resulted in a chaotic situation where the two winning production teams spoke for so long that the microphone descended into the stage and the spotlights dimmed in a vain attempt to silence them. “Ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long,” quipped presenter Kumail Nanjiani. An amused Conan O’Brien topped that after the speeches finally wrapped: “I just want to say congratulations to both winners. You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools.” —A.G.

Best: Conan Nails the Cold Open Again

Expectations were high for Conan O’Brien’s cold opening after he crushed it last year with a Substance-based bit where he emerged from Demi Moore’s nude body. He managed to top that this time by dressing up like Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys character in Weapons and getting chased by a gang of kids through the various Oscar-nominated films, including Marty Supreme, Sinners, Hamnet, One Battle After Another, F1, and even KPop Demon Hunters, where he appeared in animated form. Sentimental Value star Stellan Skarsgård gamely filmed a segment where he spoke with O’Brien in Norwegian. “Look at you, such a disappointment,” Skarsgård told the host. “Your need for approval is like a sickness… What an empty life it must be. Japing about like a fool, chasing laughter the way an old dog chases a mail truck.” At the end, as the kids chased “Conan” (very likely a stunt double) into the Dolby theater, down the aisles, and onto the stage, the pre-taped segment transitioned smoothly into O’Brien’s monologue. Remind us why it took the Oscars all these years to book him to host? —A.G.

WTF: Amy Madigan Ends a 40-Year Oscars Drought

The last time Amy Madigan was nominated for an Oscar was in 1986, when she received a nod for Best Supporting Actress for Twice in a Lifetime. Forty years later, the veteran actor was nominated in that same category, for her role as the unsettling, witchy Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s Weapons (her flaming red bangs and liberal use of lipstick was so striking, host Conan O’Brien made it the focus of his opening bit). It was a tight race heading into the evening’s ceremony, with many prognosticators believing Teyana Taylor would take home the statuette for her role in One Battle After Another (Taylor beat out Madigan for the Golden Globe, yet Madigan won at the Critics’ Choice Awards). Even Madigan herself seemed shocked, cracking up when she got onstage to accept her award. “Everybody’s asking me in the press, ‘Well, it’s been 40 years. What’s different about this time?’” she said. “What’s different is I have this little gold guy!” —Angie Martoccio

Best: ‘Sinners’ Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw Makes History

The Academy has been handing out awards for cinematography since the very first ceremony back in 1929. But they didn’t even nominate a woman until 2018, when Rachel Morrison was put up for her work in Mudbound. And they didn’t award one to a woman until this year, when Autumn Durald Arkapaw scooped up a statue for Sinners. Arkapaw gave an inspired speech where she name-checked and celebrated her predecessors, including Morrison, and asked every woman in the audience to stand up. “I feel like I don’t get here without you guys,” she said. “I really, really, truly mean that. I have felt so much love from all the women on the campaign, and gotten to meet so many people. I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys.” It was an historic moment. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 97 years to see it happen again. —A.G.

WTF: A Wasted ‘Bridesmaids’ Reunion

When news arrived earlier this month that the cast of Bridesmaids would reunite at the Oscars, the internet erupted with excitement — some might say we were ready to paaaaaartay. It’s been 15 years since Paul Feig’s beloved comedy about weddings, best-friendship, jealousy, and having explosive diarrhea in the middle of the street in a wedding dress. Fans were ready to celebrate the anniversary. Sadly, while it was nostalgic to see the cast together again (with the exception of Wendi McLendon-Covey, who reportedly had scheduling conflicts), and they delivered a few chuckles, the moment didn’t rise to the occasion. The bit, consisting of the actresses reading jokey notes from the audience out loud, seemed like a waste of five incredible comedic talents. Perhaps it would have been better if it was a very sad handwritten book? Consider this our petition to have Feig make a Bridesmaids sequel where these women can really shine. —A.M.

Worst: A ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Songwriter Gets the Hook

Last year, Adrien Brody spoke for an interminable five minutes and 40 seconds when he won Best Actor for The Brutalist. At no point was his mic turned off. But this year, when the KPop Demon Hunters song “Golden” won — the first K-pop song to be honored by the Academy — a member of the songwriting team, Yu Han Lee, didn’t get out more than a “thank you” before producers cut away and killed his mic… and didn’t bring it back, even after an audible negative reaction from the crowd as the orchestra swelled. It was a shockingly rude moment for a group of people who’d just made history, and whose earworm song had the audience singing along earlier in the night. They could have given that man 30 seconds to soak in the glory. And when Brody presented a few minutes later and mocked his long speech last year, the joke landed with a thud. —A.G.

Best: Michael B. Jordan’s Win Feels Twice as Nice

Among the record 16 nominations Sinners received this year was Michael B. Jordan’s first-ever acting nom. Now, his dual role as twins Smoke and Stack brought him his first win, too. Jordan took the stage in teary disbelief as he accepted the award. He made sure to shout out his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, as well as his mother (“Mama, what’s up?”), who was watching him from the audience. “I stand here because of the people that came before me,” he said, naming Black Hollywood legends like Sydney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and more. It’s hard to believe it’s taken this long for Jordan to win an Oscar — let alone be nominated for one — but hopefully it’s the first of many. —A.M.

From Rolling Stone US.