Matt Berry tells Oscar attendees their “whole life is a lie” in hilarious pre-show segment

Matt Berry has gone viral on social media thanks to his pre-show segment at last night’s (March 15) Oscar ceremony.

• READ MORE: Oscars 2026: One Battle After Another, Sinners and Hamnet walk away with major wins

The star of What We Do In The Shadows, The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd delivered the pre-Oscar’s show message to the audience at LA’s Dolby Theatre.

He also spoke during host Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, narrating a daydream in which O’Brien wins the award for best achievement: “And the winner is Conan O’Brien!” Berry shouts, before O’Brien emerges dressed in a winner’s robe and crown.

Elsewhere in his segment, which was not shown on TV but was shared on social media, Berry congratulates nominees before joking that the night will only be meaningful for a few of them or “one out of every five nominees.”

He then went on to poke fun at the illustrious crowd, saying: “You all look fantastic, except of course for those of you who overdid it…We all know exactly who you are tonight.”

“Sit back and act like you’re having a great time,” he said in another tongue-in-cheek joke. “You work in Hollywood – your whole life is a lie.”
He also warned actors about too long acceptance speeches saying that if the orchestra starts playing as you’re still talking, your speech is too long – describing it as the “musical middle finger.”

Watch Berry’s speech in full here:

At the event, One Battle After Another was the big winner of the night, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s film wining six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners took home four prizes from its 16 nominations including Best Original Screenplay. Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history by becoming the first woman to win Best Cinematography for the film, while Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his dual performance as the Smokestack twins.

His acceptance speech name-checked the five previous Black actors to win this award – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith – as well as Halle Berry, the sole Black woman to win Best Actress.

Elsewhere, Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme went home empty-handed while Sean Penn won his third Oscar for One Battle After Another joining the likes of Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman who also have three Oscars each.

You can check out the full list of winners on the night here.

In other news, Matt Berry joined Queens of the Stone Age on tour last October, surprising fans at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

At the event, Homme and Michael Shuman exchanged lead vocals on an a capella performance of ‘Long Slow Goodbye’ backed by the iconic Royal Albert Hall organ – which was later revealed as being played by Berry.

Before that, Tennis also brought out Berry as a surprise guest last October, in Kentish Town. Alongside his acting work, Berry has released 11 albums since 2005.

You can view the original article HERE.