find solid Work-life balance is one thing, but Jimmy Kimmel is starting to have a hard time keeping the balance between work and the Oscars. The comedian revealed earlier this year that he won’t be returning to host the Oscars. He first hosted the show in 2017 and 2018, then returned in 2023 and 2024. He could have hosted for a third year in a row in 2025, but the job of Oscars host requires more attention than he’s willing to sacrifice right now.
“I just decided I don’t want to deal with this this year. It was too much last year. You end up putting everything off until after the Oscars, and then you have to do everything you promised to do after the Oscars, after the Oscars,” Kimmel said on his ABC show. Politics There's also an element of surrender that comes with it. “I did it for two years, and it went well. Then I did it for another two years, and it went well. I decided to take a break,” he continued, later adding: “It's fun to do, and I'm happy when things go well, but for me, it was too much to do it for three years in a row.”
Kimmel found himself so immersed in Oscar preparations that it was creating chaos between him and his team. Jimmy Kimmel Live “I’m not good at balancing. I’m not really good at it. It’s not one of my strengths. I’m very involved when it comes to something like the Oscars. I think about it morning and night, and when I have ideas, I want to work on them, and then my nightly schedule is like, ‘Oh, I have all of our writers from the show working on the Oscars, so it’s distracting. ’”
Kimmel is tied with Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon for the most times they've hosted the show. Had he agreed to return in 2025, he would have tied Johnny Carson, who hosted the show five times. Bob Hope and Billy Crystal, the reigning Oscar winners, have hosted the show 11 and nine times, respectively.
From an outsider’s perspective, hosting the Oscars seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But as Kimmel explains, many of the people who would likely see the offer fall in their way—like John Mulaney, who also turned it down—aren’t keen on taking it. “It takes a lot of time, and a lot of people who you think this person would be great… they know they’d be great, but they don’t want to do it,” he says. “When you think someone’s going to be great, the only thing they can do is prove you wrong when they host the Oscars. They say it’s an unrewarding job. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it that way, because when things are going well, they’re not, but it’s a tough position to be in.”
The 2025 Oscars will air on ABC on March 2.
