Singer Who’s Sold Millions of Albums Makes Surprise Cameo in Oscars Monologue

Josh Groban made a truly dramatic appearance at Sunday’s 98th Academy Awards!

The five-time Grammy award–nominated singer/songwriter, who has sold over 35 million albums worldwide, made a surprise cameo in Oscars host Conan O’Brien’s musical monologue during Sunday’s ceremony, showing off his pipes with a comedic rendition of Handel’s “Zadok the Priest.”

The hilarious bit began with O’Brien appreciating the “modesty” and “genuine humility” of the night’s Oscar winners, as he pointed out they often offer their appreciation for their co-stars, colleagues, family members and loved ones while accepting the distinction.

“But honestly, I don’t know if I could do that,” the former late-night host admitted. “If it were me and I was up for an Oscar…”

The show then entered a dream sequence in which O’Brien was up for the fictional Best Achievement Oscar against Antonio Banderas, Renée Zellweger, Denzel Washington and Glenn Close. When the comedian was announced as the winner of the award, he immediately stood and lifted his arms into the air triumphantly before being draped with a velvet robe and crown and blessed by a priest.

As O’Brien took the stage, Groban then appeared in full operatic garb to sing, “His Oscar win has been fated by God/ He did this himself, and he’s grateful to none/ Even the haters can’t hate number one.”

O’Brien then summoned a falcon named Cicero to deliver his Oscar to him, joking, “This is how all Oscars will be handed out tonight.”

While Groban’s rendition of “Zadok the Priest” was a parody performance, the singer told CNN and Variety on the red carpet that the arts, including opera, are “especially” important in today’s “divisive world.”

“We need the humanities, we need arts to remind us what our humanity is,” he said. “We need the arts to remind us who we are as human beings when everything is trying to tell us how different we are and how angry we should be. We need these art forms to bring us together, to make us feel about ourselves and the world around us.”

He continued, “It’s a huge connector, I think, in the world that we’re in right now. So they’re vitally important.”

Asked about Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet’s controversial recent comments that “no one cares about” opera and ballet, Groban responded, “I think the fact that it’s galvanized people to talk about and celebrate these categories of the arts in a way that might actually not have happened had he not said those things, I think it’s had an accidentally positive effect.”