8 things you didn't see on TV at the 2025 Oscars: Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner get cozy, the Conan O'Brien jokes that landed with the crowd and a gracious Demi Moore

The 97th Academy Awards is in the books, and while reviews of the nearly four-hour show seemed mixed, the star-studded crowd at the Dolby Theatre was ready to party.

Some of the most interesting moments inside happen when cameras are down, whether it’s seeing which stars find each other during commercial breaks (looking at you, Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater) or who escaped to the lobby bar for a drink.

From Demi Moore’s reaction to her surprising loss to how host Conan O’Brien was received in the room, here are eight things you didn’t see on TV.

Couples pack on the PDA

There was no shortage of love at the Oscars — but Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, were the “it” couple.

Although Jenner opted to skip the red carpet, she quickly joined her boyfriend of nearly two years inside the show, and they weren’t shy about showing affection. They stole (many) kisses throughout the ceremony, and he was always making sure she was comfortable. He had his hand on her back; she nuzzled in. He introduced her to many of the A-listers who stopped to talk to him — and there were a lot. Regardless of the big name that said hi, he made sure she was always included. Jenner looked proud and beamed throughout the night.

A few seats over in the front row was Grande, who officially had her mom as her date. However, during many of the commercial breaks, she was quick to find Slater, her boyfriend, several seats down. The two were affectionate when cameras weren’t on them, and they shared a sweet moment after she lost Best Supporting Actress to Zoe Salda?a.

There was no sulking on Grande’s part, though! She was in great spirits and even asked a photographer to take a picture of her and her mom.

Miley Cyrus, one of the night’s presenters, made her awards show red carpet debut with boyfriend Maxx Morando. After the two posed for photographs together, they were spotted heading into the lobby together hand in hand and stayed close throughout the evening.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco rounded out one of the other most-buzzed-about couples of the night. The Emilia Pérez star was escorted in by her fiancé, who kept a supportive hand on her back — and 16,000 “drops of glass” — as they made their way into the theater. Their affection continued inside.

How Demi Moore reacted to surprising loss

The Substance star was considered the frontrunner for Best Actress, but Anora’s Mikey Madison prevailed. The crowd seemed somewhat surprised, but everyone got on their feet to celebrate Madison, including Moore.

Ever the consummate professional, Moore smiled and clapped for the 25-year-old actress. As Madison made her way to the stage, Moore was seen hugging co-star Margaret Qualley after a long and largely successful awards season.

I was sitting in an Anora section, so a lot of people were freaking out, in a joyous way, over the upset. But others were surprised Moore didn’t take the Best Actress prize home. There were a whole lot of “Whoas” and “Wows” in the crowd. Yes, more than a few people pointed out the irony of Moore losing to Madison, something that would have happened in The Substance.

Brody immediately finds Chalamet after win

Chalamet did not end up a winner, but he spent a lot of time with Adrien Brody after his Best Actor acceptance speech. As The Brutalist star exited the stage, he went right up to Chalamet. The two have been neck and neck all awards season, and the respect between the actors was evident. Brody was emotional as he talked with Chalamet, and they embraced multiple times.

Eventually, all Best Actor nominees — Brody, Chalamet, Colman Domingo, Ralph Fiennes and Sebastian Stan — came together for a photo.

At one point, Jenner was seen snapping a pic of her beau.

Conan O’Brien nails hosting debut

The comedian has hosted the Emmys twice, the MTV Awards and of course, his talk show Late Night With Conan O’Brien, but the Oscars is a different beast. Overall, he kept the audience engaged through the very lengthy evening with his trademark quirky humor.

His opening, a pretaped bit riffing on The Substance, had the audience — and Moore — laughing. (Viewers at home may have had a different take since the gory introduction followed the family-friendly opening number from Grande and Erivo.)

O’Brien struck the right tone between celebrating the nominees and throwing in some zingers.

“The movie Conclave is up for Best Picture tonight. If you haven’t seen Conclave, its logline is, ‘A movie about the Catholic Church ... but don’t worry,’” he quipped. The crowd ate that one up.

Some of his self-deprecating humor got a mixed reaction, as did the bit about “footage” of Jeff Bezos arriving at the ceremony in an Amazon box. The jokes about using “child labor” instead of AI and losing “little Billy” got a few cheers.

The audience loved the John Lithgow bit: “Instead of playing you off with music, we’ll have something much more powerful — we’ll cut to John Lithgow in the audience looking not angry but slightly disappointed.”

O’Brien’s dance number also had most of the A-list crowd cracking up.

He kept the same light tone throughout the night, and while he mostly stayed out of politics, the crowd was into it when he went there.

“Anora is having a good night,” he said midway through the show. “That’s great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.” The theater erupted in applause.

One of his more risqué jokes of the night also landed: “Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.”

The audience appreciated his more subdued moments as well, like when O’Brien brought out several members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, who were fed jokes “that I’m not even brave enough to tell.” The crowd loved that moment, and overall, O’Brien.

“He did a great job,” one guest was overheard saying on the way to the Governors Ball.

“Agree, I’d like to see him back,” another responded.

The lobby bar sees star-studded action

Emma Stone was not looking to repeat 2024’s mistake. When the Oscars presenter headed out to the first-floor bar during a commercial break, she made sure she knew how much time she had before she needed to get back into the Dolby Theatre, telling friends she had about 20 minutes to hang out.

Stone, who is close with Taylor Swift, caught up with music producer Jack Antonoff for a drink. She spent most of her time with husband Dave McCary.

Brody and partner Georgina Chapman took over part of the bar at one point. The duo, who were with his mother, were there together for awhile through the second act as he waited for his category at the end of the night. Luckily, he didn’t miss any of The Brutalist's awards haul.

Kieran Culkin, who won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain, proved a win doesn’t change when it’s time for husband duty. When he and his wife, Jazz Charton, took a break near the bar — only to be quickly greeted by Stone — he held her purse while she went to the bathroom.

How Karla Sofía Gascón was received by her peers

The Emilia Pérez star had her awards season campaign essentially derailed when her controversial past tweets made headlines. She skipped the red carpet and kept a relatively low profile inside the Dolby Theatre.

O’Brien touched on the scandal during his opening monologue. The crowd was mixed. He got a lot of laughs at his jokes on the topic: “Little fact for you: Anora uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist” and “Karla, if you’re going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.”

However, Gascón also got a good amount of cheers whenever her name was mentioned, including by O’Brien and when she was announced in the Best Actress category.

Gascón was embraced by Brody when she went to the bar during a commercial break. He hugged her as did Chapman. They talked for a bit before she went on her way. Multiple other guests also stopped to talk with her.

Chalamet’s seat switch

Before his category for Best Actor was presented, Jenner gave her seat to the A Complete Unknown star’s mother, Nicole Flender. The Kardashians star slid right behind the pair so the two could have a special moment, just in case he upset frontrunner Brody.

Nick Offerman delights the crowd

Did the voice of the Oscars announcer sound familiar? That’s because it was the Parks and Recreation star. From his funny (and purposeful) mispronunciation of former co-star Amy Poehler’s name to riffs with O’Brien, the actor offered some great comedic commentary. But the best of his bits came on five minutes before the show kicked off.

“I’m here for two reasons. First of all, to congratulate you. What an absolute thrill,” he began. “The second reason that I’m here is to deliver to you a grave warning. Please keep your speeches short. There is no need to thank your agents, publicists, studio execs ... Trust me, those folks will all continue to want to work with you. You are an Oscar winner now, so you can thank them after the show later. Send them a drunken text at 4 a.m. telling them that you’re now ready to play an Avenger, and a real Avenger this time, not Hawkeye.”

Offerman urged nominees to get to the stage quickly.

“The longer that you take sharing hugs, whether consensual or with Kevin Spacey, the less amount of time you’ll have,” he said. “We all know that the very best speeches are from the heart. They’re genuine and focused just upon what this really means to you and why. So please just be mindful of time, keep it short.”