Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Oscars Bit That One Movie Star Rejected

Jimmy Kimmel revealed the one Oscars comedy bit he and his team pitched to a celebrity, only to have them turn it down. While speaking with Matthew Belloni on The Town podcast, Kimmel dived into the current view on the Academy Awards by the celebrities that attend, and won’t attend.

He also revealed one specific bit that the actor involved nixed almost immediately. It involved A Serious Man‘s Michael Stuhlbarg and the pronunciation of his name.

“OK, this is maybe not the best bit, maybe it would’ve bombed, I dunno. There’s an actor, a great actor named Michael Stuhlbarg…This is a guy we all know as a great actor,” Kimmel tells the host. “But even I, after pitching him this comedy bit, cannot remember what his last name is. So it involved getting the whole audience to sing, ‘Michael Stuhlbarg.’ It was like a way to remind people of who is and how to say his name.”

Belloni chimes in, asking, “And he wouldn’t go along?”

“He had no interest in it whatsoever,” Kimmel swiftly notes, hinting at just how little interest the actor had in mocking his name. Not a stretch to say it was a bad idea. For Belloni, he had a notable moment from Oscar history in mind for comparison.

“It could’ve been your Uma, Oprah moment. With Letterman,” the host tells Kimmel, which he quickly shows his agreement. “It could’ve been.”