Jimmy Kimmel seemed to have delighted the audience at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles from the start of his monologue at the 90th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night.

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Following a brief black-and-white sketch that made corny jokes about celebrities including Emma Stone, Armie Hammer and Chadwick Boseman (and also saw the fish-man from The Shape of Water sit in the theater among other famous people to watch the ceremony), host Kimmel almost immediately began addressing the numerous revelations of sexual harassment that have rocked Hollywood in recent months.


“If you hear your name, don’t get up right away,” quipped Kimmel. The 50-year-old late-night show host also walked over to the giant Oscar statue standing on one side of the stage and pointed to it, saying: “Even this Oscar statue is safe: it’s keeping its hands to itself, and it doesn’t have a penis.”

This was one of the many jokes that got roaring laughter and applause.

Kimmel’s opening speech also, unsurprisingly, included a handful of political jokes that criticized the Trump administration. Kimmel pointed out Timothee Chalamet, the 22-year-old star nominated for Best Actor for his role in the gay coming-of-age drama Call Me By Your Name. Kimmel noted that the film was an example of a beautifully made and well-received movie even though it didn’t make much money.

“It didn’t make much money, but we don’t make movies like Call Me By Your Name to make money, we make them to upset Mike Pence,” Kimmel said about the vehemently anti-gay vice president.

Kimmel also noted how much money the new Marvel superhero flick Black Panther has made, and said that the winner who delivered the shortest speech (in order to keep the ceremony from running too long) would win a jet-ski worth $18,000. Oscar winner Helen Mirren stood on the stage while the curtain unveiled the jetski, much like a model standing next to a fancy car.

Kimmel also turned serious for a brief moment and mentioned people who need support, like the students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida who survived a shooting on Feb. 14 and who have been pushing for more gun control. Kimmel brought up the March for Our Lives event on March 24 in Washington D.C. and in other major cities around the country designed to encourage change for this issue.

Even Get Out star Lakeith Stanfield appeared onstage, rushing on to yell “Get out! Get out!” just as he does in the film after Kimmel urged all the winners to keep their speeches short.

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