Conan O’Brien drew gasps from the Oscars audience after a joke at last night’s (Sunday March 16) ceremony.

During his opening monologue, the comedian noted the fact that there were no British nominees in the lead acting categories.

“It’s the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress,” he joked. “A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well at least we arrest our pedophiles’.”

Elsewhere during his monologue, O’Brien took at dig at Timothée Chalamet’s controversial recent comments about ballet and opera, which have attracted backlash in the past week or so.

“It's the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress. A British spokesperson said, 'Yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles.'"

– Conan O'Brien cooked the US hard at the #Oscars  2000 && fx == 1) { $('.footer-post').css({'position': 'absolute',}) } });