We’re weeks away from the 96th Oscars ceremony and returning host Jimmy Kimmel is readying for the big night. In the first teaser trailer for the awards show, Kimmel gets lost on the way to Hollywood and finds himself in Barbieland (with the requisite voice-over narration by Helen Mirren).
Kimmel encounters Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) who promises to help him find his way. McKinnon is always delightful, but she excels at embodying Weird Barbie. After mocking Jimmy (“You must be midlife crisis Ken”) she promises to get him home via the map to Oscarsland.
The map contains several fun prompts and references to this year’s nominated films, including The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, and American Fiction. They hop into the Weird Wagon and set off in a recreation of Barbie’s epic road trip to reality.
Instead of driving through different Barbie lands, the duo passes through the worlds of the nominated films. Plenty of solid jokes here include McKinnon referring to Emma Stone’s Poor Things character as “even weirder Barbie.” They continue through Osage County (Killers of the Flower Moon), Maestro (a.k.a. Kennard Bernstein), and Los Alamos (Oppenheimer).
In classic Kimmel fashion, Jimmy doesn’t miss an opportunity to mock Matt Damon, who co-stars in Christopher Nolan’s film.
After running over Matt Damon’s face, Kimmel and McKinnon crash land at the Oscars. America Ferrara, who pops up from the backseat, riffs on her famous Barbie monologue to describe the thankless job of the Oscars host.
“It’s literally impossible to host the Oscars,” Ferrara intones. “You have to be extraordinary, but somehow you’re always doing it wrong. You have to make fun of people, but you can’t make too much fun of people. You have to give everybody enough time, but you can’t go long. And you are the center of attention, but no one cares you’re there. You can never show off, never fail, never show fear. No one ever says thank you, but everyone has something critical to say online. If it goes well, nobody says anything. If it doesn’t, it’s all your fault.”
Kimmel responds, “I think what you’re saying is, hosting the Oscars is even harder than being a woman,” and is met with deadpan stares from both women. Finally, Ryan Gosling pops up from the backseat rocking sunglasses and holding an In-N-Out bag. He brags about jumping on the social media trend of eating the famous burgers pre-Oscars, but of course, that beautiful dummy is incorrect.
Kimmel reminds him that it’s only for Oscar winners, at which point Gosling quips “Oh, well that’s not gonna happen.” He adds, “Good thing Greta’s got [best] director in the bag.” Ferrera whispers that she was snubbed, and everyone starts screaming.
The teaser trailer is not only delightful, but it’s a great example of spoofing Barbie without relying on misogynistic humor (looking at you, Jo Koy). Kimmel strikes the right tone throughout the teaser trailer, with the earned confidence of a third-time host.
The Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 10, on ABC, at 7 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. PT.
(featured image: screenshot/Jimmy Kimmel Live)
