It was kind of expected, and it pretty much happened:  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won MOST of the Oscars it was up for.  Specifically, 7 out of 11 . . . including Best Picture. The only acting award it didn’t win was Best Actor . . . but they didn’t have a nominee in that category. Brendan Fraser won that one for “The Whale” . . . and to be honest, I was a little worried he was gonna have a heart attack during his speech. Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor for “Everything Everywhere”.  Which means, along with Brendan’s win later in the night, two of the stars of the 1992 cinematic classic “Encino Man” are now Oscar winners. Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress, and Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress . . . beating co-star Stephanie Hsu. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also won Best Director(s) and Best Original Screenplay.

Jimmy Kimmel did make several references to The Slap, starting with his monologue. He said, quote, “We have strict policies in place.  If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and be permitted to give an 18-minute long speech.” He added, quote, “Seriously, the Academy has a crisis team in place.  If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year:  nothing.  Maybe even give the assailant a hug.” At the end of the show, Jimmy went backstage and flipped over a number on a board to indicate that there has now been ONE consecutive Oscar ceremony without incident.  Then he high-fived Cocaine Bear . . . who showed up earlier in the night to present an award with Elizabeth Banks. Jimmy also joked about whether Robert Blake would be included in the In Memoriam segment.  He wasn’t. John Travolta got choked up introducing that segment . . . probably at least in part because it included his longtime friend Olivia Newton-John. Other absentees, in addition to Blake, included Paul Sorvino, Anne Heche, and Gilbert Gottfried.  They’re all mentioned on the Oscar website, along with a few other “snubs” you may have noticed.

Other Oscar Highlights:

1.  Harrison Ford presented Best Picture, which went to “Everything Everywhere” . . . and Indiana Jones and Short Round shared a hug, nearly 40 years after “Temple of Doom”.

2.  People think Angela Bassett shaded Jamie Lee Curtis after losing Best Supporting Actress to her.

3.  Lady Gaga stopped on the red carpet to help a photographer who fell . . . then later, she completely ditched her pre-show glam to perform “Hold My Hand” in a t-shirt, ripped jeans, and no makeup.

Do you love everything Billy Joel has ever done?  Well, here’s someone who doesn’t agree with you:  Billy Joel.  (???)  If he could, Billy would delete AT LEAST 25 PERCENT of his catalog. He says, quote, “I’ve written some real stinkers I wish I could take back.  Sometimes I’d get six or seven songs I thought were pretty damn good, then there’d be a couple of squeeze-outs at the end just to fill up the album. “I realize now I shouldn’t have done that.” What are some of his least favorite songs?  He mentioned two of them:  “When in Rome” from the 1989 album “Storm Front”. . . and “C’etait toi (You Were the One)” from 1980’s “Glass Houses”. Billy is currently on tour with Stevie Nicks . . . but it’s not a farewell tour.  In fact, that’s something you’ll NEVER see from him. He says, quote, “I have a disdain for capitalizing on that:  ‘Let me threaten that it’ll be the end, and then I’ll make a lot of money.’ “I’ve seen bands so many times announce their farewell tours and then they never go away.  I’ve seen a couple of the Who farewells at this point.”

The Dolby Theater . . . where the Oscars were . . . is right next to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which now has more than 2,700 stars on it.  And that includes plenty of big names in country music. Someone posted a list of every major country act with their own star.  Here are a few of the biggest names on the list . . .

Gene Autrywas one of the first to get one in 1960.  A few more from that first class include Roy Acuff, Glen Campbell, and Hank Williams.

More early names:  Johnny Cash (1976) . . . Loretta Lynn (1978) . . . Kenny Rogers (1979) . . . and Dolly Parton (1984).  (Dolly actually has two stars.  Her second is for the album “Trio” with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.)

From the ’90s:  Garth Brooks (1995) . . . Clint Black (1996) . . . Reba McEntire (1998) . . . Patsy Cline (1999) . . . and Charley Pride (1999).

From the early 2000s:  Dwight Yoakam (2003) . . . Randy Travis (2004) . . . Tim McGraw (2006) . . . Brooks and Dunn (2008) . . . and Crystal Gayle (2009).

And here are the most recent names they’ve added:  Alan Jackson (2010) . . . Shania Twain (2011) . . . Vince Gill (2012) . . . Rascal Flatts (2012) . . . John Denver (2014) . . . Carrie Underwood (2018) . . . Faith Hill (2019) . . .

And we’ll be getting another star later this year when Blake Shelton gets one.  It was announced last summer, but we haven’t seen a date yet.

Tanya Tucker was also set to get one in 2020.  Same for Trisha Yearwood and The Judds in 2021.  We couldn’t find any record of those stars being added yet though.

As someone who makes a living using words, I can empathize with Carrie Underwood on this.  She shared a clip of herself in the studio stumbling over the lyrics to her new song, “Out Of That Truck”. She’s supposed to sing, “That messed up tape deck’s still stuck playin’ that mix I made for you”.  Not easy, right?  After fumbling through it she said it was “the hardest line she’s ever had to sing”.  Also, Friday was Carrie’s 40th birthday, and her husband Mike Fisher shared a pic of her sitting at a table with a “six-layer cheese wheel birthday cake” that she called “about 70 pounds of cheese.”  There were also over 10 bottles of wine. Carrie’s Instagram was sweeter.  She shared pics of homemade birthday cards from her kids.  Eight-year-old Isaiah had a list of “4 Things I Love About Mommy” while four-year-old Jacob did a simple “Things I Love About Mommy”.

Keith Urban randomly posted a video of himself driving an excavator, and demolishing a Ford Focus.  You’re probably wondering why, and I’m going to guess he did it . . . because he can. It was a staged skit, where he joked that he was out having a thrill, while his band was waiting for him at a soundcheck before his show in Vegas.  One fan called it, quote “the best thing ever.” 

Here’s a good example of “the show must go on”.  Ingrid Andress doesn’t cancel a concert when it’s her time of the month.  She actually embraces it, and even feels “most empowered” when she performs while on her period.  Quote, “[It’s] really hard to do, and most male artists don’t have to deal with that, but it feels like I’m a boss queen when I can go out on stage and own it while bleeding.” 

Chase Stokes isn’t just dating Kelsea Ballerini, he’s also a fan.  People are posting videos of him watching her perform on stage.  Some show him dancing and singing at the soundboard, and some from the stage entrance.

Thomas Rhett was joined by a special guest at the Country to Country Festival in London on Friday.  He brought out former One Direction member Niall Horan and they sang Niall’s song “Slow Hands”.

Charo is 72.

William H. Macy is 73.  Frank Gallagher on Showtime’s “Shameless”.

Neil Sedaka is 84.  Biggest hits:  “Calendar Girl” and “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” (released in 1961) and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (released in 1962).