The Oscars failed to find a main host this year after comedian Kevin Hart pulled out following a row about old homophobic tweets.
So instead of having the traditional opening monologue, Bridesmaids co-stars Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler appeared to introduce the show as well as presenting the first award.
"We are not your hosts this year but if we had hosted, it probably would have gone like this," Fey said - before the trio launched into a sketch poking fun at some of the nominees, which is one of the host's usual jobs.
The ceremony continued to rely on a procession of stars presenting individual awards.
But it didn't obviously suffer from the lack of an overarching host, and it helped the event move along.
Pop band Queen, fronted by singer Adam Lambert, had opened the ceremony with a bombastic medley of We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions as A-listers waved and clapped along in their seats.
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