Sure, “Oppenheimer” took home the night’s biggest prize at the 2024 Academy Awards when it claimed best picture honors, but the evening’s big winner may have just been John Mulaney.
The comedian performed a hilarious bit about the 1989 Kevin Costner movie “Field of Dreams” when he appeared onstage to present the award for best sound.
“You know, for years movies didn’t have sound and then they figured it out,” he began in his familiar delivery while the audience laughed.
“Some people say the silent era was the golden era of film. These people are difficult and insane.”
He then referenced some classic movie lines.
“Without sound, we wouldn’t have been able to hear such classic lines as, ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ and ‘He was in the Amazon with my mother when she was researching spiders, just before she died,’” he said, alluding to a recently memed line from “Madame Web,” while the crowd howled.
Mulaney was just getting warmed up, though. He then launched into a monologue about “Field of Dreams,” the 1989 baseball drama that was nominated for three Oscars, including best picture.
“What about that moment in ‘Field of Dreams’ when we hear, ‘If you build it, he will come’? And then (Kevin) Costner does it. He builds a baseball field,” he said.
“I guess he doesn’t build it. He mows down corn, and then there is a field, and then he’s like, ‘I’m gonna watch ghosts play baseball.’ And the bank is like, ‘You wanna pay your mortgage?’ And he’s like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna watch ghosts play baseball.’ And then he finds James Earl Jones, who wrote ‘The Boat Rocker,’ which I thought was a real book deep into my 20s and he’s like, ‘People will come, Ray.’’ He’s the only one with a financial plan.”
The audience was already in stitches and Mulaney remained committed to the bit, as he dissected the film’s plot.
“But what’s weird is Timothy Busfield pushes little Gaby Hoffman off the bleachers and she falls down,” he said. “She’s unconscious. Then Burt Lancaster is Moonlight Graham. And he comes up and he pats her on the back a couple times and he’s like, ‘Hot dog stuck in the throat.’
“And then he can’t go back in the game, ‘cause I guess there’s a rule in ghost baseball that if you leave the field at any point to become an elderly ghost and do the Heimlich maneuver, you can’t return to the field.”
Mulaney then wrapped up his frantic assessment of the movie by giving it kudos.
“I love ‘Field of Dreams.’ That should win best picture, though they’ll probably go with one of this year’s (nominees),” he finally finished before continuing with best sound winner announcement.
Mulaney’s jokes landed well. So well, in fact, that many people on X think he should take the baton from Jimmy Kimmel and host the Oscars next year.
"This was John Mulaney’s audition, and he passed with flying colours. He should host next year and many years after that," one person wrote.
"If John Mulaney isn’t hired to host the Oscars next year, then literally what are we even doing here?" someone else commented.
"John Mulaney I am on my hands and knees begging you to host the Oscars," another person wrote.
"Can we just get John Mulaney to host the #Oscars already?" someone else wrote.
"I forget who said this but I agree that we should make John Mulaney host every award show ever, even — nay, especially — if he doesn’t want to," another fan joked.
"John Mulaney just rocked his Oscars host audition," someone else pointed out.