Matt Berry was the unlikely standout star at the on Sunday, which saw Michael B. Jordan and win Best Actor and Best Actress.
The British actor, comic and jazz musician, 51, had the role of announcer at the ceremony, taking over Nick Offerman's job as he introduced presenters to the stage.
Yet while Matt may not have been an obvious pick for the job, he sure knew how to get the crowd going as fans were full of praise for his unlikely stint.
Matt, 51, is best known for starring in The IT Crowd, Toast Of London, The Mighty Boosh and Darkplace.
Yet recently, Matt has started to become known in American circles for his work in the FX mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows.
So how did a humble working class comic from a small town in Bedfordshire go on to land one of the most coveted jobs in Hollywood?
Matt Berry was the unlikely standout star at the Oscars on Sunday, which saw Michael B. Jordan and Jessie Buckley win Best Actor and Best Actress
Matt, 51, is best known for starring in The IT Crowd (pictured in character as Douglas Reynholm) as well as Toast Of London, The Mighty Boosh and Darkplace
Before narrating the 98th Academy Awards and the cult sitcoms, Matt grew up somewhere much quieter.
He was born in 1974 in Bromham, a small village in Bedfordshire, where his father worked as a taxi driver while his mother was a nurse.
From a young age, Matt had a fascination with music, with his parents leaving a keyboard in his room one night.
'They never said anything,' he told the Guardian. 'There was no explanation, no lessons, just me and the organ.'
In his teens, he enjoyed listening to Roxy Music, David Bowie, Jean Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield.
When he reached 16, he knew he wanted to remain in the arts, but he couldn't read music, so he wasn't allowed to do it as a GCSE.
'I'd like to go back and tell that boy – none of this will have any bearing on your future,' he said in a previous interview.
Despite this, he went on to study Contemporary Arts at Nottingham Trent University.
His first real break arrived in 2004 with the cult Channel 4 comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
The opportunity came as a shock as he was initially working in the London Dungeon.
A keen musician, he knew the creators Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade from Mighty Boosh gigs, where he was a warm-up act.
'I didn't have any plan to go into comedy,' Matt told The Guardian. 'We became sort of mates and Matt said, "we're doing this horror thing, do you want to play this Spanish doctor?" I was in the London Dungeon. It was an easy decision to make.'
Matt played Todd Rivers, an actor within the show who takes on the role of smooth-talking character Dr. Lucien Sanchez.
While the series only lasted six episodes, it quickly gained a cult following and steadily expanded Matt's career across TV comedy.
One of his most recognisable roles arrived when he joined the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd in 2007.
He played Douglas Reynholm, the outrageous and frequently inappropriate owner of the Reynholm Industries.
The character was such a success with fans that it even earned him a nomination as the Best Male Comedy Newcomer at the 2007 British Comedy Awards.
While The IT Crowd introduced Matt to a wider audience, Toast of London cemented him as a cult comedy icon.
In the series, he played Steven Toast, a deeply self-serious actor perpetually on the brink of both professional success and total humiliation.
It also produced some of the most quoted lines of his career.
Explaining how he developed the character, he told The Guardian: 'I would work with a certain type and age of actor and just sit there and listen to their tales.'
A keen musician, he knew the creators Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade from Mighty Boosh gigs, where he was a warm-up act. He later landed a role on the BBC Three series
More recently, Matt was introduced to an American audience when he played vampire Laszlo Cravensworth in the FX mockumentary comedy What We Do in the Shadows
Alongside his television work, Matt has kept a parallel career as a musician, releasing 11 studio albums
More recently, Matt was introduced to an American audience when he played vampire Laszlo Cravensworth in the FX mockumentary comedy What We Do in the Shadows, which saw his fandom grow internationally.
He's also starred in Channel 4 sitcom Year of the Rabbit, and the BBC Two mockumentary series Squeamish About.
Alongside his television work, Matt has kept a parallel career as a musician, releasing 11 studio albums.
Perhaps his most famous track was Take My Hand, serving as the theme song for his BAFTA-winning show Toast of London.
His latest release was Heard Noises in 2025, which featured Natasha Lyonne and Kitty Liv.
In 2025, he provided the human voice of Nitwit in A Minecraft Movie.
And as he took to the Oscars on Sunday, Matt has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
He once claimed he never takes a holiday because 'there's too much to do. I can't sit on my a**e for the sake of it.
He told the Guardian: 'While I've got all my arms and legs and my eyes working at the same time, I've got to make as much stuff as I can. It's kind of morbid, but I won't have all this forever'.
Matt joined a stellar lineup at the Oscars this year, where the presenters included the likes of Nicole Kidman, Channing Tatum, Rose Byrne, Jimmy Kimmel, Delroy Lindo, Ewan McGregor, Wagner Moura, and Sigourney Weaver.
During the ceremony, host Conan O'Brien introduced Matt to the star-studded audience, with the comedian taking on narrating duties from a studio in the UK.
Fans shared their delight at hearing Matt narrate the show, writing: 'I can't believe it took me as long as it did to realise Matt Berry was the Oscars announcer I'm such a fraud;
'Just hearing Matt Berry doing these announcer reads is giving me great joy;
'Hearing Matt Berry say ''K-Pop Demon Hunters'' was something I didn't know I needed in life;
'Every time Matt Berry speaks in the voiceover it takes me so out of it... like what do you mean Douglas from The IT Crowd is doing the voice at the OSCARS!!'
'Matt Berry should be the announcer on every awards show from this point forward.'
This year’s Oscars were hosted by Conan O'Brien, (pictured) and were screened on ITV in the UK, with Jonathan Ross leading the coverage
During the ceremony, host Conan introduced Matt to the star-studded audience, with fans sharing their delight at hearing Matt narrate the show
The 2026 Academy Awards are typically considered the top honour for any film star, as the moment they accept the coveted honour becomes etched in movie history.
However, it seems that the so-called experts who choose the winners of the famous statue may be less equipped than once though, as one voter has confessed they haven't watched half of the films nominated for this year's ceremony.
Typically the winners of each Oscar are chosen by members of The Academy, an organisation of over 8,000 film industry professionals, who individually choose which films and stars they believe should receive an award.
New guidelines were also introduced this year for members, where they had to attest that they have seen the films that they are voting on, either in a cinema, through the Academy's digital screening room, or through some other means.
However, one voter has anonymously admitted they 'didn't care' to watch the full list of films that feature on this year's Oscars shortlist, and said those that they did watch they found to be 'mediocre.'
This further fuels complaints from film fans that the Oscars have become out-of-touch, with accusations some voters simply 'coattail' by picking films that have already won big this awards season.
The awards have also faced claims the ceremony has become 'woke' due to a focus on smaller movies over box office hits.
In an email published by Deadline, the voter said: 'I thought you might be interested to hear a take from an Academy member about this year's rules.
'I haven't seen even half of the nominated films, nor do I care to, because my time is far too valuable to spend watching movies I know I'd never vote for (much less be able to sit through).
'I found most of the films I did see to be mediocre, and nothing that I nominated made the final cut. Therefore, since I don't want to lie, I decided I simply would not vote at all this year. Yes, I'd like to vote for K-Pop Demon Hunters, but not at the price of watching four other movies I know won't be as good.
'But really, the Oscars have become pretty irrelevant. Anora? CODA? Everything Everywhere All At Once? vs The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton? Which three movies will people still be watching five years from now?
'It's all about the film, not the award. Rather than watch the Awards, I'll probably watch Singin' In The Rain or North By Northwest or The Searchers – REAL best pictures which weren't even nominated.'
Following last year's ceremony, the Academy announced a string of new guidelines for voters, including that they would have to attest to having seen all of the films under Oscars consideration.
The rules, which were first announced back in April, combined digital tracking through the Academy Screening Room with member-reported viewings of films that make up the shortlist.
Across all 24 competitive categories, voters were told that the online ballots could only be access if members themselves verified they'd seen all of the films nominated in a given category.
Another new rule regarding Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital tools states that 'the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination.'
It comes following controversy around last year's nominee The Brutalist, which used AI to enhance the Hungarian dialogue of stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. Adrien went on to win his second Best Actor award for the performance.
