If Conan O’Brien needs a friend, he’ll definitely find one at the Academy. O’Brien has been named host of next year’s Oscars for the third year in a row. Additionally, live TV event producers Raj Kapoor and Katie Mullan will return for the fourth consecutive year as executive producers of the show.
O’Brien’s producers Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney will also return as producers for a third time, with Sweeney serving as Waiter. Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor announced the news Tuesday afternoon on the Disney front in New York. The 99th Oscar Awards, Disney’s penultimate Academy Awards, will be broadcast live on ABC and Hulu from the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.
“We are thrilled to be working with Conan, Raj, Katie, Jeff and Mike again at the 99th Oscars,” Kramer and Howell Taylor said in a joint statement. “They are an incredible team who have produced such engaging, funny and heartfelt programming over the past two years. We salute the global film community and are so grateful for their continued partnership, and we look forward to Conan leading the celebration with his flair and humor.”
O’Brien once again won critical acclaim in his second year hosting the Oscars in March. Even the day after the telecast, Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s vice president of unscripted and alternative entertainment, told Variety that bringing O’Brien back was a game. After the praise ended with a gag suggesting O’Brien was a “lifetime Oscar host” (at least for the rest of his life at ABC), Mills said it wasn’t a joke. “Conan is a host for life, yeah,” he said at the time. He’s just being told. I don’t think it’s a comedy. We’re going to treat it as if it were a fact. ”
And now it seems like that might actually be true. O’Brien, of course, has hosted the late-night talk shows “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” “Conan,” and currently hosts the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” and the HBO travel show “Conan O’Brien Must Go.” He won six Primetime Emmy Awards and earned 33 nominations, including a nomination for an Oscar.
“Conan created an incredible energy around Oscar,” Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, said in a statement. “His unique comedic voice makes Hollywood’s biggest night one of the year’s most entertaining extravaganzas. We’re proud to have him back and look forward to seeing what he and the production team bring to the table next.”
As for Kapoor and Mulan, she won the 96th Oscars and an Emmy for her work on Adele, and has worked on Grammys, Emmys, Hannah Waddingham’s Christmas House, Beauty and the Beast, 100 Years of Music and Laughter, and the Paris Olympics LA28 Closing. Ceremony” etc. Mullan is executive producer, showrunner and partner on Done + Dusted. She also won an Emmy Award at the 96th Oscar Awards, and has directed productions such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics, “The Little Mermaid Live!” and “Beauty and the Beast: 30th Anniversary Celebration.”
“It’s really special to be reunited with Conan O’Brien after three years at the Oscars. He brings the unique humor that we all love, along with a genuine warmth and generosity that runs throughout the show,” Kapoor and Mulan said in a joint statement. “He’s a true creative partner, someone we fully trust and who really makes the whole process fun, both behind the scenes and on stage. We’re extremely grateful to continue building this together and can’t wait to share what’s next.”
Ross’ credits include Conan, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Kids in the Hall, and more recently, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Conan O’Brien Must Go, and Conan Without Borders. He won two Primetime Emmy Awards and earned 18 nominations, including a nomination for an Oscar. Sweeney has won four Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, with credits including “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” “Conan,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”
Disney will retain the rights to the Oscars until the 100th edition in 2028. The TV broadcast will then move to YouTube and will move to a new home at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles in 2029.
