The 2022 Oscars Hosts Made History The Second They Took The Stage

The 94th annual Academy Awards started with big laughs from its trifecta of female hosts: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes. After going without a host (or hosts, for that matter) in 2021, the Academy and ABC tripled down by hiring not one, not two, but three high-profile comedic actresses for this year's ceremony.

Like countless hosts before them, Schumer, Sykes, and Hall wasted no time skewering members of the star-studded audience at the top of the show (via YouTube). The ladies addressed how rough the COVID-19 pandemic has been for everyone. To drive this point home (while also squeezing in a few laughs), they singled out "Dune" star Timothée Chalamet, claiming it had hit him especially hard, with the camera cutting to "Being the Ricardos" actor J.K. Simmons instead, who appeared less amused by the joke than Chalamet. The three hosts also quickly addressed the controversy surrounding ABC's decision not to broadcast eight major categories, including film editing and sound, at which points the broadcast experienced brief but perfectly-timed technical difficulties.

The 2022 Oscars has already proven itself to be a night full of historic firsts, and the show set the tone with Schumer, Hall, and Syke's opening monologue. Here's how the trio of Oscar hosts made history the minute they stepped on the stage.

The 2022 Oscars turned things upside down by handing master of ceremony duties over to three female stars. The Academy displayed some serious one-upmanship over fellow awards season ceremony the Golden Globes, who has, in the past, recruited "Saturday Night Live" alums and real-life besties Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to co-host for three consecutive years, from 2013 to 2015. Additionally, while the Oscars has featured plenty of female co-hosts in past years opposite male co-hosts (think Anne Hathaway, Whoopi Goldberg, and Carol Burnett), there has never been an all-female co-hosting line-up — until this year. To drive home just how historic this moment is, Amy Schumer joked during the show that "this year, the Academy hired three women to host because it's cheaper than hiring one man." 

Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Schumer weren't shying away from controversy either. At the end of their opening monologue, they also took a dig at Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill by promising it would be a "gay, gay, gay" night. The women are alternating hosting segments of the show, and each brings her particular brand of humor to the festivities. For example, in one notable moment, Hall called some of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs onstage under the ruse of needing to personally test them for COVID-19 by swabbing their mouths with her tongue. There's no doubt these hosts will feature heavily in the telecast's best and most memorable moments.