Conan O’Brienis taking full advantage of his hosting duties at the97th Academy Awards, making all sorts of hilarious jokes and references to the phenomenal and also turbulent year that 2024 was for the film industry and the greater Los Angeles area. In one of the more unique segments of the Awards show, O’Brien brought out the Los Angeles Fire Department Captains to celebrate their heroic efforts to put out the LA Wildfires. Besides recognizing the brave first responders, O’Brien also took the opportunity to give them the spotlight in a fun way— by having them tell jokes he deemed too brutal for him to tell. One such joke targeted a controversial and poorly received movie released late last year,Joker: Folie à deux. When O’Brien let the first Firefighter Captain tell a joke, it was an unexpectedly ruthless, with the Captain saying:
“Our hearts go out to all of those who have lost their homes…and I’m talking about the producers ofJoker 2.”
It was a hilarious setup and a surprising mention of a film that has disappeared from conversations about the prolific list of releases in 2024. The build-up toJoker: Folie à deuxhad plenty of people apprehensive about its approach, especially after directorTodd Phillips had initially been apprehensiveabout making a continuation of his 2019 filmJoker.
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However, Joaquin Phoenix signed on to return along with Phillips, and Lady Gaga joined the film as Harleen Quinzel. As it turns out, the sequel would take bold creative swings, with Phillips and the creative team not only makingFolie à Deuxa musical but also creating a definitive conclusion for this iteration of the clown prince of crime that would draw the ire of fans of the 2019Jokermovie.
The Oscars Cements ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’s Infamous Reputation
Joker: Folie à deuxwould beboth a critical and financial failure, with a 31% critic and audience score, and a little over $206 million at the global box office. With a $200 million budget (almost four times bigger thanJoker’s2019 $55 million budget), the film barely broke even, which is also a far cry from the first film’s box office, which made over $1 billion worldwide.Folie à Deux’sdrop-off, when compared to its predecessor, is an interesting example of how much the comic book adaptation landscape has changed.
The jab atJoker 2during the Oscars will live on as a hilarious reminder of how much that film didn’t live up to thereputation of Todd Phillips’s origin storyfor the character. Ironically, the firstJokerfilm had a massive presence at the 92nd Academy Awards, with 11 Oscar Nominations, winning two: Best Actor for Phoenix and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir. In contrast,Joker 2’spresence at the 97th Oscars was one brutal joke.
Conan O’Brien’s comedic sensibilities and timing have made this year’s Awards show particularly memorable, with timely references and re-opening old wounds in the case ofJoker 2. The firstJokerfilm redefined what an origin story could be with a psychologically twisted story of Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness. Unfortunately, its musical sequel has only ended up being the butt of a joke that was heard by millions of viewers.
Joker: Folie a Deux
