As host of the Oscars this year, it’s Conan O’Brien’s job to rib the nominees during his opening monologue. But, according to the comedian, he and his writers are really struggling to come up with a joke about Best Picture nominee “Train Dreams.”
He admitted as much during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Wednesday night, as he reflected on the job with past Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel. As the interview began, O’Brien detailed how he’s been preparing, explaining that he’s been testing the material at local stand-up shows in LA. In doing so, O’Brien has discovered that “there are certain areas we cannot crack.”
“One of them is the movie ‘Train Dreams.’ Can’t get a good joke for ‘Train Dreams,’” he revealed. “Which maybe means there is no good joke for ‘Train Dreams.’”
At that, O’Brien took a quick poll of Kimmel’s audience to see who had actually watched the film, which is now streaming on Netflix. He was met with smattered applause — eight people, by Conan’s count.
“That’s one of the issues. And so, I think my writers — they write a lot of jokes, and I keep going out and trying them out — I think they’ve written 5,000 jokes about ‘Train Dreams.’ Not one of them is any good! And these are very good writers, so I blame ‘Train Dreams!’ I think it’s the fault of the movie.”
In fairness, “Train Dreams” is indeed not a comedy, which Kimmel was quick to point out. The men agreed that it’s a great movie, but its subject matter is simply not prime for comedy.
“It’s a beautiful movie, but it’s just, no joke sticks to it,” O’Brien said. “So, I might move on!”
O’Brien did bring one joke he had for the film to read to Kimmel’s audience, but insisted that it wouldn’t worked, and shamed them for “pity” applause. You can watch Conan’s full appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the video above.
