37 Oscars Jokes: The 2021 “Train Station, Nomadland & The Hopkins Twist” Edition

In 2021, the 93rd Academy Awards looked less like a gala and more like a very expensive waiting room at a train station. It was the year Chloé Zhao made history, Glenn Close did “Da Butt” dance to save the ratings, and the Academy learned the hard way that you should never save Best Actor for last unless you’re 100% sure who is going to win.

The 2021 Red Carpet Top 10: “Masks & Midnight Trains”

1. The Union Station Setting: Why were the Oscars at a train station? Because after a year of lockdown, the Academy wanted to make sure everyone felt like they were going somewhere—even if it was just to the bar for another drink.
2. Chloé Zhao’s Sneakers: Why did she wear white sneakers to win Best Director? To prove that if you’re making a movie about living in a van, wearing high heels to accept a gold statue is just a betrayal of your source material.
3. The Anthony Hopkins Ending: Why did the show end with a picture of a guy who wasn’t there? Because the producers gambled on a posthumous win for Chadwick Boseman and lost to an 83-year-old legend who was busy sleeping in Wales.
4. Glenn Close and “Da Butt”: Why did an eight-time nominee do a booty-shaking dance? Because in 2021, “Dignity” was less important than “Viral Potential,” and Glenn Close is a better sport than anyone in Hollywood.
5. The “Nomadland” Victory: Why did it win Best Picture? Because after 2020, we all related to Frances McDormand’s character—we were all just wandering around our houses looking for a place to go.
6. The No-Orchestra Vibe: Why was there a DJ instead of an orchestra? Because Questlove is the only person who can make a four-hour ceremony feel like a cool house party that you’re not quite invited to.
7. Frances McDormand’s Wolf Howl: Why did she howl during her speech? To prove that winning three Best Actress Oscars officially grants you the right to be the weirdest person in the room.
8. The Yuh-Jung Youn & Brad Pitt Moment: Why was her speech so charming? Because she used her Oscar win to publicly flirt with Brad Pitt, proving that at 73, she still has her priorities perfectly straight.
9. The “Promising Young Woman” Style: Why did Emerald Fennell win Screenplay? To show that a pastel-colored revenge thriller is the only way to make a 2021 audience feel both stylish and terrified.
10. The Best Animated Feature: Why did Soul win? Because Pixar realized that during a pandemic, a movie about a man dying and questioning his existence was exactly the “lighthearted fun” we all needed.

The Full 2021 Oscars Jokes Archive

11. The Socially Distanced Seating: Why was it so spread out? To make sure that if a joke landed poorly, the comedian had a 6-foot head start to run away.
12. The Best Director Win: Why did Chloé Zhao win? For making a movie where the most dramatic thing that happens is a sunset, and making us all cry about it.
13. The Best Original Screenplay: Why did Promising Young Woman win? Because a nurse’s uniform and a notebook are the new “Action Hero” accessories.
14. The Best Adapted Screenplay: Why did The Father win? Because Florian Zeller turned a living room into a psychological thriller, which is what we all did during quarantine anyway.
15. The Best Costume Design: Why did Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom win? Because velvet and sweat are the official fabrics of a 1920s blues recording session.
16. The Best Makeup Win: Why did the blues movie win again? Because turning Viola Davis into Ma Rainey involved enough gold teeth and eyeliner to be seen from the moon.
17. The Best Art Direction: Why did Mank win? Because making 2021 look like 1930s black-and-white Hollywood is the only way to make the Academy feel truly at home.
18. The Best Cinematography: Why did Mank sweep the visuals? To prove that “Old Hollywood” is still the Academy’s favorite filter.
19. The Best Sound Win: Why did Sound of Metal win? Because a movie about losing your hearing is the only time the Academy actually pays attention to the sound department.
20. The “Another Round” Win: Why did Thomas Vinterberg win Best International Feature? Because the Academy loves a movie about four middle-aged men getting drunk, as long as it’s “philosophical” and Danish.
21. The Best Film Editing: Why did Sound of Metal take it? Because cutting between “Total Silence” and “Heavy Metal” is the ultimate audio-visual workout.
22. The Best Visual Effects: Why did Tenet win? Because nobody understood the movie, but everyone agreed that crashing a real 747 was more impressive than CGI.
23. The Best Original Score: Why did Jon Batiste and the Soul team win? Because jazz is the only thing that can bridge the gap between New York and “The Great Beyond.”
24. The Best Original Song: Why did H.E.R. win? To prove that “Fight for You” is more than a title—it’s a requirement for winning an Oscar in a train station.
25. The Best Documentary Feature: Why did My Octopus Teacher win? Because in 2021, a man having an emotional relationship with a cephalopod was the most relatable friendship on Netflix.
26. The Best Animated Feature: Why did the “soul” win? Because Pixar has a patent on making people rethink their entire lives through cartoons.
27. The Honorary Award for Tyler Perry: Why? Because he built his own studio and then spent the whole pandemic making sure everyone else could keep working.
28. The Best Live Action Short: Why did Two Distant Strangers win? Because a time-loop movie about a very real nightmare was the most powerful 30 minutes of the year.
29. The Best Animated Short: Why did If Anything Happens I Love You win? To make sure that even in the “Shorts” category, nobody left the room without crying.
30. The Best Documentary Short: Why did Colette win? To remind us that history is never really in the past, especially when an 90-year-old woman visits a concentration camp.
31. The Daniel Kaluuya Speech: Why did he talk about his parents having sex? To show that even if you win an Oscar, you can still make your mom want to hide under the table in front of millions of people.
32. The “Mank” Snub: Why did it lose Best Picture? Because the Academy realized that a movie about the guy who wrote Citizen Kane is slightly less interesting than an actual citizen living in a van.
33. The Harrison Ford Appearance: Why did he read the “Editing” notes? To show that even Indiana Jones hates it when a movie is too long.
34. The Best Supporting Actress Race: Why did Olivia Colman lose? Because Yuh-Jung Youn brought a “Grandmother Energy” that was impossible to beat.
35. The Riz Ahmed “Sound” Nod: Why was he so good? Because he made us feel every vibration of a drum kit we couldn’t actually hear.
36. The Governor’s Ball: Why was it smaller? Because in 2021, the “Party” was just everyone going home and taking off their uncomfortable shoes.
37. The 2021 Final Oscars Vibe: Why was it a “Classic” year? Because it was the night the show hit the tracks at a train station, the underdog howled like a wolf, and the 2021 Oscars reminded us that in Hollywood, the biggest twist is often the one where the winner isn’t even in the building.