After hit-and-miss monologue, crowd cheers in tribute to behind-the-scenes crew members.
The 96th Annual Academy Awards caused a bit of a stir before the ceremony even started because of WHEN they started: six minutes past the scheduled 6 p.m. Central Time, with a comfortable and confident Jimmy Kimmel handling host duties for the fourth time. Some in the audience stood to greet Kimmel, who ad-libbed, “Thank you for that partial standing ovation” and noted, “We’re already five minutes over and I am not joking.”
It was a tad ironic that Kimmel joked about the long running time for so many movies in a solid if hit-and-miss monologue that stretched past 15 minutes. Heavy on inside-baseball references and jokes, it ended on a strong note, with Kimmel bringing out dozens of behind-the-scenes crew members to thank them for refusing to cross picket lines during last year’s strikes.
