Jimmy Kimmel is ready for anything at the Oscars

By Chloe Melas, CNN

Jimmy Kimmel is set to take the Oscars stage as the host for the third time this weekend.

In a recent interview ahead of the big night, Kimmel said he’s ready for anything – even another slap.

“Well, I size them up, and, if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s— out of them on television. And if it’s the Rock, I run,” he joked in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter.

Will Smith infamously slapped presenter Chris Rock at last year’s Academy Awards, after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Kimmel previously hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, the latter of which had its own memorable blunder, when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced over “Moonlight” for best picture.

As for what we can expect from Kimmel this year?

He says it’s simple — he’ll tell jokes.

“I don’t have a lot of talents, so there’s not a huge number of areas for me to draw from outside of telling jokes,” he said. “I mean, I am pretty good at drawing cartoons, so I guess I could sit down and do caricatures of the stars?”

Adding, “The best advice I got about hosting the Oscars was from Billy Crystal, who told me, ‘Play to the room.’ You always have to be conscious of the audience at home and make sure they understand what’s going on, but you also want to get laughs in the room — and if you don’t get that, it’s not going to play well for people watching on TV.”

The 95th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 12.

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