Everyone is doing post-credits scenes now: Marvel, DC, even the Oscars.
The 98th Academy Awards concluded not with One Battle After Another‘s Best Picture win, but rather with a post-credits scene teasing the future of the ceremony, which moves from ABC to YouTube starting in 2029.
The sketch parodies the death of One Battle After Another‘s Colonel Lockjaw (Academy Award winner Sean Penn), who is gassed by the white supremacist Christmas Adventurers Club for hiding his interracial relationship with Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and their child Willa (Chase Infiniti).
In the sketch, a nervous Conan O’Brien fills in for Lockjaw. Fresh off his hosting gig, he meets with his comedy mentor Jim Downey (Saturday Night Live). Downey declares that O’Brien did such a good job, he’s been declared “Oscar Host For Life.”
That title comes with a fancy new office and a deadly reveal. Like Lockjaw, O’Brien has been locked in. It’s not long before he’s been fatally gassed and sent to the crematorium. At the end of the Oscars, it’s especially dark.
It gets even darker. After O’Brien’s demise, the plaque on his “Host For Life” office gets swapped out for that of the next host: YouTuber MrBeast.
Don’t worry, the plaque switch doesn’t mean MrBeast is actually hosting the Oscars for life (or even next year). Instead, it’s poking fun at the Oscars’ imminent switch to YouTube, as well as the broadcast’s attempts to stay relevant for younger viewers. O’Brien jokingly suggested some solutions throughout the night, including saying “hostmaxxing” and “6-7” while a Subway Surfers game was played alongside him.
