"I am going to do a full 90 minutes this year," joked Kimmel. "That's why we're starting an hour early this year, because I'm going to go really, really well. It's gonna be like a Netflix special."
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He's prepping for his fourth time as the Oscar host. This time he feels a bit more at ease. Jimmy gives special credit to his wife, Molly McNearney, who is one of the executive producers of his nightly talk show as well as the Oscars telecast.
"If it wasn't for Molly I wouldn't be doing it for sure," said Kimmel. "It just makes it a whole different deal knowing you have somebody who doesn't even have to ask you what your opinion is. She knows what it is. And even if it isn't my opinion, she will inform me that it is. It's just like a shortcut and a bodyguard and also like, you know, a great comedy partner all in one."
Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel loves the gig because he loves movies
In the year of "Barbenheimer," Jimmy sees plenty of potential for comedy. "There's some very heavy movies for sure. But then we also have 'Barbie'... So I like to focus on the positive."
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That's why he drafted the cast members from the "Barbie" blockbuster to help promote the Oscar show.
"I mean, Kate McKinnon was just unbelievably funny from beginning to the end of that shoot. And then America Ferrera came in and she was - I mean, the way she delivered that speech, I felt like she was speaking for me about the challenges of being an Oscar host," said Kimmel. "And then Ryan Gosling shows up and just killed it at the end."