JIMMY KIMMEL IS READY FOR THE OSCARS!

BACK AS HOST FOR THE FOURTH TIME, THE LATE-NIGHT STAR HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO BE MORE THAN KENOUGH

- ELIZABETH LEONARD

After hosting the Oscars three times, Jimmy Kimmel knows the pregame drill. Spend months spitballing jokes and try to spin timely material into comedy gold right up until the show begins. Watch many, many films (he’s seen all 53 of this year’s nominees). And, perhaps most taxing, get in tux-ready shape. So, as he preps to host Hollywood’s biggest night on March 10, the Emmy-winning comedian has upped his gym game. “I need to start working on my ‘explosiveness,’” he notes dryly before allowing that he’s living on “sad salads and a lot of pathetic boxed meals that are delivered to my home.”

In other words, he’s in peak form. “We work very hard to make the show as good as it possibly can be,” says Kimmel, 56, who also credits his wife, Molly McNearney, returning as the show’s co-executive producer, and the rest of their well-oiled creative team. And does hosting ever get old? Not a chance. “I feel like the Kansas City Chiefs going into this Oscars,” he says. “Like you’ve been there before, but it doesn’t make a difference. It’s still exciting, and you still have to do well!” 

When did you get the call to host again?

They asked me right away. When the [writers’] strike ended, later in September, is when I said yes.

How’d Molly react to the prospect of a four-peat?