Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph kicked off the 2019 Oscars telecast Sunday as presenters of the award for supporting actress.

That Fey, Poehler and Rudolf presented the award is a departure from Oscars tradition. In past telecasts, the winner of the previous year’s supporting actor award would be called on to present it. Sam Rockwell won the 2018 supporting actor Oscar.

Taking the stage after a prepared montage reel, the three actresses wasted no time before joking about the various curve balls the Academy Awards faced in the lead -up to the ceremony.

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In particular, they noted how the Oscars were hostless, how no awards would be presented during commercial breaks and, with the first Trump dig of the night, mentioned that Mexico would not be paying for that wall.

The trio also teased just what sort of bits they would have included had they been tasked with the hosting job. They also posed long enough to make it seem like they were the hosts of the show.

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tracy.brown@latimes.com


Twitter: @tracycbrown