The 98th Academy Awards marked the second time Conan O’Brien had hosted the ceremonies. He did a solid job hosting last year, but this year was something special. This was the year that proved how essential someone like Conan is to making the ceremony entertaining in more ways than one.

The cold open was brilliant, as Conan dons the Aunt Gladys look from Weapons, fleeing from murderous children. As he zips through scenes from F1, Marty Supreme, Hamnet, One Battle After Another, KPop Demon Hunters, Sinners, and Sentimental Value, his jokes had a great mix of humility and ego. When told by Benicio del Toro to tuck and roll, Conan brings up his replaced hips. When he runs across Huntrix, he’s presented as the sexiest man ever to put on a red wig and smear on lipstick. That duality in his humor worked well for what felt like a classic Oscar cold open, far grander than Conan’s the previous year, when he only parodied The Substance.

The jokes that followed had a refreshing variety of the expected topicality and an absurdity common to his late-night era. There were clever jabs at conservatives with Conan highlighting a non-political Oscar ceremony being hosted by Kid Rock at Dave & Busters. In addition to mocking Trump’s branding, Conan wasn’t afraid to address the Academy’s politics, as when he brought up Ryan Coogler’s refusal to be part of the voting Academy. He would also make incredibly juvenile jokes about drums inspired by Marty Supreme and some lesser gags about communicating through a TikTok format. There were plenty of hills and valleys, but the key to making it work is how Conan rolls with every delivery, recognizing when the laughs are lesser or the too-soon oofs flood the theater. He’ll go with the ping-pong paddle butt-slapping joke twice, but still caps with a what-have-I-become punchline that he does best.

The humility that Conan in his hosting abilities is remarkable, as with a dream sequence of winning an Oscar in a manner that is over-the-top enough to be read more satiricially than earnest. He can stress the importance of art while still finding the humor in that devotion, conveyed through a parody of a film preservation group that reformats movies to be seen vertically on phones. There’s a knowing nature to this comedy, given that this was a real concept that AI advocates were posing. The realization of the shifting culture makes Conan’s additions far more than just some goofs about how nominations like Bugonia and Hamnet sound like lunch meats (he’s not above making this joke though). The ending segment where he recreates Lockjaw’s death from One Battle After Another adheres to the dread lurking in media, with Conan’s host title being replaced by Mr. Beast. This type of humor is overt, yes, and not without some misses (as with a YouTube ad being played mid-ceremony with Jane Lynch selling junk), but that fearless for the pointed and pointless is what kept the show consistently amusing.

The clearest tell of how well Conan performed can be seen in how previous hosts were present to compare and contrast. An aged Billy Crystal took to the stage to talk about Rob Reiner, reminding me of past ceremonies where his charisma carried the night, akin to Conan. Jimmy Kimmel briefly hosted for a moment to deliver some lukewarm Trump jokes about Melania documentary, highlighting how much better Conan can hold onto that humor instead of lighting the fuse and running away. Even with his paler moments playfulness, Conan the Academy Awards fun in a way no other host could. The host-for-life sketch doesn’t sound so bad.