Josh Groban sings to the tune of ‘Zadok the Priest’ for operatic Oscars opening sketch

16 March 2026, 15:36

American baritone Josh Groban belted out a parody of ‘Zadok the Priest’ as opera critic Timothée Chalamet applauded in the background...

It’s not often you hear Handel at the Oscars but during last night’s event, American classical crossover star Josh Groban delivered a parody performance of Zadok the Priest – in full costume.

The performance was part of a surreal dream sequence from the mind of host Conan O’Brien during his second year hosting the Oscars.

In the sketch, O’Brien imagined himself winning a fictional award for Best Achievement against Antonio Banderas, Renée Zellweger, Denzel Washington and Glenn Close. At this point, the camera panned to recent opera and ballet critic Timothée Chalamet applauding in the background.

On “winning” the fictional award, O’Brien was serenaded by Groban with a tongue‑in‑cheek adaptation of the Handel anthem.

The rewritten lyrics included the immortal lines, “His Oscar win has been fated by God, he is the greatest - just check out that bod. He did this himself and he's grateful to none. Even the haters can't hate number one. He promised my agent my highest fee yet and blew all the money on this mountain set.”

Read more: What are the lyrics to Handel’s ‘Zadok The Priest’?

Josh Groban Oscars Performance (98th Academy Awards with Conan O’Brien)

It wasn’t Groban’s first appearance at the Academy Awards. His song ‘Believe’, written by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard for the 2004 film The Polar Express, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 77th Oscars, where he performed it live with Beyoncé.

Groban has also turned his hand to acting, making his screen debut in 2011 in Crazy, Stupid, Love alongside Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

Groban said, “Conan is one of my heroes of all time. He’s got a twisted and wonderfully brilliant mind and when he called me and said, ‘We’ve got something we could recruit your voice for,’ I said, ‘Whatever it is, no matter how silly, I’m in.’”