Oscars Viewers Want to Know: Why Isn’t John Mulaney Hosting?

WE WANT ANSWERS

Mulaney took home the ultimate prize of the night: winning the hearts and minds of the internet.

John Mulaney during the live telecast of the 96th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Forget John Cena’s naked romp or Jimmy Kimmel battling Trump (again), the real winner of the Oscars was actor and comedian John Mulaney—and now the internet is demanding his rightful place as the award show’s 2025 host.

Fresh from his presenter spot at this year’s ceremony for Achievement in Sound—where he panned those who claim the silent movie era is the “golden era of film” while spilling shade on a line from Madame Weba search of X shows scores of users demanding the Oscars bring back the Netflix star next year.

“Without sound, we wouldn’t have been able to hear such classic lines as ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ and ‘He was in the Amazon with my mother when she was researching spiders just before she died,’” Mulaney said to a chorus of laughs.

He was also hailed for a hilarious moment in which he explained at length the illogical plot of Field of Dreams, the 1989 movie starring Kevin Coster, before finally presenting the award.

Bro Bible admitted Mulaney “does make a lot of great points” when he said Field of Dreams should win best picture.

“John Mulaney needs to host next year and every year after that or at the very least have a series where he explains the plot of various movies,” critic Tom Chatalbash posted on X.

The sentiment was echoed throughout the social sphere, including The Globe and Mail critic Barry Hertz.

“My one big Oscars takeaway: Ryan Gosling, John Mulaney and John Cena need to co-host next year,” Hertz wrote.

The pleas echo earlier requests from publications including GQ, which reported on Mulaney’s performance hosting the Governor Awards in January. GQ said that despite being a “private affair, not broadcast anywhere ... clips and tweets from the audience reveal the obvious: he killed it, of course.”

The magazine also pointed to his hilarious musical skits on Saturday Night Live, adding that, “Whatever the case may be, it’s time for someone to make the call—and for John to answer. The fate of our attention span depends on it.”

Mashable said Sunday of Mulaney’s “detail, precision, and audacity of this explanation proves one thing: This is a man who clearly loves the movies! Let him host the Oscars next year.”

Mulaney was spotted earlier Sunday afternoon on the red carpet in a rare sighting with girlfriend Olivia Munn. The comedian, 41, and the actress, 43, were seen holding hands prior to Mulaney’s presenting gig at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Variety critic Guy Lodge hailed the evening’s proceedings, including Mulaney: “An all-time great award presentation by John Mulaney followed by an all-time great win for The Zone of Interest followed by an all-time great production number from Gosling — this is as good as the Oscars get.”