‘Next year, it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux’: the best quotes from Oscars 2026

9 hours ago 5

Conan O’Brien

On Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera snipes: “Security is extremely tight tonight. I’m told there’s concern about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities. You’re just mad you left out jazz!”

On AI: “I am Conan O’Brien, and I am honoured to be the last human host of the Academy Awards. Next year, it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”

On politics: “Tonight could get political, and if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock. It’s at the Dave & Buster’s down the street.”

On Netflix head Ted Sarandos: “It’s his first time in a theatre!”

On Amazon’s films being snubbed: “Also shut out? Walmart, Alibaba and Chewy. Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”

On healthcare: “In Hamnet, Shakespeare’s wife gives birth by herself in the woods – or what we call in America affordable healthcare.”

On hope: “Everyone watching right now, around the world, is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frightening times. It’s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant – 31 countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty.”

Amy Madigan

Accepting best supporting actress for her turn in Weapons: “I was in the shower last night trying to think of something to say as I was shaving my legs – I’ve got pants on, I don’t need to worry about that.”

Maggie Kang, co-director of KPop Demon Hunters

Accepting the best original song award for Golden: “For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took so long to see us in a movie like this, but it is here. That means the next generations don’t have to go longing … This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere.”

Rachel McAdams

Paying tribute to the late Diane Keaton during the show’s In Memoriam section: “She wore so many hats, literally and figuratively, actress, artist, author, activist, but no hat more important to her than being a mother to her two children. She meant so much to so many of us.”

Javier Bardem

Presenting the Oscar for international film: “No to war. And free Palestine.”

Paul Thomas Anderson

Accepting the award for best director after 11 total Oscar nominations in previous years: “You make a guy work hard for one of these.”

On winning: “There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself.”

Jessie Buckley

Accepting the award for best actress: “My family, my Irish family, they’re all here. Ireland bought them flights!”

Thanking her husband: “You. Fred. I love you, man. I love you. You’re the most incredible dad, you’re my best friend, and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you.”

On mothers: “It’s Mothers’ Day in the UK … I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”

Michael B Jordan

Accepting the Oscar for best actor: “Yeah mama, what’s up! Y’all know how I feel about my mother. And my father’s here. My dad flew here from Ghana.”

On the lineage of Black acting winners: “I stand here because of the people that came before me. Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith. And to be amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys … thank you.”

Michael B Jordan gets emotional as he accepts the award for best actor.

David Borenstein, director of Mr Nobody Against Putin

Accepting the Oscar for best documentary: “Mr Nobody Against Putin is about how to lose your country. And what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless small little acts of complicity. When we act complicit when a government murders on the street of our major cities. When we don’t say anything when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it.”

Kieran Culkin

Presenting the Oscar for best supporting actor: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening. Or … didn’t want to. So I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”