Jimmy Kimmel to host next year’s Oscars – his fourth time presenting the awards

Jimmy Kimmel has been announced as the host of next year’s Oscars.

The comedian, who hosted this year’s ceremony, will return to present the 96th edition of the prestigious Hollywood awards show.

It will be his fourth time helming the Oscars.

“I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,” Kimmel said in a statement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, announcing him as the host.

Kimmel is one of the most famous faces on American TV, as the host and executive producer of his late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The 56-year-old first hosted the Oscars in 2017 – when he famously managed the chaotic final moments as La La Land was wrongly named best picture over the actual winner, Moonlight – and then again in 2018, which came just months into the #MeToo reckoning in Hollywood.

Following Kimmel’s appearance in 2018, the Oscars were held without a main presenter until the 2022 ceremony – which saw Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes share the stage.

His return in 2022 followed the infamous “Slapgate” incident involving Will Smith and Chris Rock.

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As this year’s host, Kimmel parachuted into the ceremony in a nod to best picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick and almost immediately launched into jokes referencing Smith.

“Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which meant the odds of another fight onstage just went way up,” he told the audience.

Two hours into the telecast, Kimmel quipped: “At this point in the show, it kind of makes you miss the slapping a little bit, right?”

Sci-fi action comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was the big winner at this year’s awards, winning seven Oscars, including best picture and three acting awards for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

The 96th Academy Awards, which will celebrate films from 2023, is due to take place on 10 March 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

While voting is yet to get underway, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon are among the early favourites to pick up gongs, according to bookmakers.