At the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, 2025, host Conan O’Brien connected Amazon’s role in the James Bond franchise to a gag about Jeff Bezos being delivered to the Oscars red carpet in a cardboard box. The two beats were part of O’Brien’s opening monologue—not a real Bond casting announcement.
When and where did the jokes happen?
O’Brien delivered the jokes during the opening monologue of the 97th Academy Awards, held Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The ceremony honored films released in 2024. The Academy’s official ceremony page identifies the event and host.
What was the Amazon and James Bond joke?
O’Brien first referred to Amazon taking over the 007 franchise, then made an intentionally absurd announcement about the next James Bond. The line turned Amazon’s new connection to the franchise into corporate and entertainment satire. The Atlantic described the bit as a jab at Amazon’s recent purchase of the franchise.
The supposed Bond news was part of the comedy. It was not a genuine casting announcement. The monologue transcript records the sequence of jokes.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteWhat was the Jeff Bezos cardboard-box gag?
After the Bond bit, O’Brien pivoted with, “Speaking of Amazon, we have some footage of Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos arriving tonight on the red carpet.” The staged footage played on Amazon’s association with package delivery: Bezos appeared to arrive at the event in a cardboard box. The Associated Press described it as “a gag of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos being delivered to the red carpet in a cardboard box.”
The sequence continued with a beat suggesting Bezos was missing, followed by an eBay punchline. Together, the box and eBay references extended the parcel joke rather than making a factual claim about Bezos’s arrival.
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How the two jokes fit together
| Monologue beat | Comic target | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon and James Bond | Amazon’s role with the 007 franchise | A deliberately absurd next-Bond announcement turns a corporate entertainment deal into a punchline. |
| Bezos in a box | Amazon’s parcel-delivery association | Staged red-carpet footage, a missing-Bezos beat and an eBay remark build a visual package-and-resale gag. |
Was this the same Oscars ceremony as the 2026 show?
No. These jokes were from the 2025 ceremony. In a March 17, 2025 announcement, the Academy said O’Brien would return to host the 98th Oscars on March 15, 2026. That release also reported 19.69 million viewers and a 4.54 rating among adults 18–49 for the 97th Oscars, describing both as five-year highs, and 104.2 million social interactions, which it said made the show the most social TV program season-to-date at that point. These are figures the Academy published in 2025, not current audience measurements. Read the Academy’s announcement and figures.
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