The best talk show appearances from Oscar nominees

After the Museum of Ice Cream opened in Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel sent Best Actor nominee Rami Malek there, in character. Malek donned his Mr. Robot outfit — hooded sweatshirt, backpack, blank stare — and took a stonefaced tour through the colorful ice cream palace, in what Kimmel called “Mr. Robot meets Mr. Softee.” But Malek’s most memorable appearance came in 2015 on Kimmel when he shared one of his greatest acting performances — pretending to be his identical twin brother, Sam, so Sam could pass a college acting course and get his degree. Maybe that’s why he’s so comfortable playing two distinct personalities who look exactly the same on “Mr. Robot.”

Was Spike Lee excited about his first-ever nomination for Best Director? You better believe he was, and if you’re a disbeliever, well, he shared the footage of his reaction for Jimmy Fallon. Also, he’s wearing what appears to be a ship captain’s hat with Prince’s symbol on it, so this is a real can’t-miss.

Alfonso Cuaron has a long and impressive filmography, including a Best Director win for "Gravity," but the "Roma" auteur isn't one to revisit them. As he explained to James Corden, he won't watch his movies again because they're like '80s haircuts. "When I do them it was like a good idea, then after, well, I better not see them again." Roma only features '70s haircuts, so Cuaron might be more willing to give that one a rewatch.

Emma Stone can do it all. She sang in “La La Land” when she won her first Oscar, she does comedy and drama in “The Favourite” and on Stephen Colbert’s show, she proved she can even find homes for rescue dogs. Stone might not win Best Supporting Actress this year, but she certainly has a future at the Westminster Dog Show.

Sam Elliott has been an actor for over half a century, and not until "The Star Is Born" did he get his first Oscar nomination. He talked about it with Jimmy Kimmel and discussed one of his first Hollywood jobs: being a day laborer at the Beverly Hilton during the Golden Globes. While the awards ceremony was taking place, Elliott was ripping nails out of boards. And if you weren't convinced Elliott has been in the business a long time, here's a clip of him on Arsenio from 30 years ago when his hair was already gray.

It's rare to see brothers Joel and Ethan Coen on any talk show, since they don't like to talk about their movies. Aside from a few interviews with Charlie Rose, you have to go all the way back to "The Dick Cavett Show," where they appeared with John Turturro in 1991 to promote "Barton Fink." They talk abut test screenings, typecasting, their writing process and how they discourage improvising — but not vomiting.

Kendrick Lamar received his first Oscar nomination this year for "All Of The Stars," but he's been nominated for a whopping 37 Grammy nominations so far, at age 31. He got 11 noms at the 2016 ceremony but explained to Jimmy Fallon that he wasn't interested in breaking Michael Jackson's record of eight Grammys in a single year. Lamar ended up winning five that year, but he shouldn't be afraid of taking home an Oscar — Jackson was never even nominated.

Best Actress nominee made an audience member's night when she appeared on Letterman in 1993. Though the quality of this redubbed tape is a bit grainy, you can see Close, always the dedicated actress, committing fully to her sitting in the delighted and overwhelmed man's lap. Letterman yells, "you owe me!" to the stunned man, which is also what Close should be shouting to the Academy voters after her seventh nomination.

Viggo Mortensen got his third Oscar nomination this year for "Green Book," and he was experienced enough to counsel Jimmy Kimmel before his first hosting gig in 2017. Mortensen described how much more fun the Oscars are when you're a "big favorite to lose," and he also brought Kimmel something to help him out. Instead of an orchestra playing off a winner speaking too long, Mortensen provided an elegant solution: a card that simply reads "STOP TALKING." Mortensen is a 50/1 underdog to win Best Actor, so most likely he's going to have fun again.

Adam McKay almost exclusively writes and directs these days, especially after his second Best Director nomination, for "Vice." But he does occasionally act, like when he pretended to be Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to prank Lorne Michaels, as recounted on an episode of Seth Meyers. If McKay can convince Christian Bale to gain fifty pounds again, we think "Stein" might be McKay's next acclaimed biopic.

What did Stephen Colbert want to talk about with Best Supporting Actress nominee Rachel Weisz? Her new film "The Favourite"? No, he focused on the British spelling of the word favourite. "I'm curious where you guys get off wasting that many U's," Colbert asked, but Weisz was even more befuddled when she learned that Americans spell "civilization" with a "z," not as "s." Let's see if she's still confused on Ozcar night!

Melissa McCarthy got a Best Actress nomination for "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" but we want to see "Diane," the tiny-hat-wearing character she debuted on "Ellen." McCarthy talked about her dancing prowess, shoving people over pretending to be J.Lo's bodyguard, and wore a onesie of Ellen herself, proving that McCarthy packs more entertainment into six-and-a-half minutes than some performers deliver in their whole careers.

Two-time Emmy winner Regina King is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "If Beale Street Could Talk," and she's spoken about the film on a bunch of talk shows. But that's not as exciting as learning about the times she met Prince, as told to Jimmy Fallon in 2017 . Prince was apparently a cautious hugger, his communications came from a mysterious person named Sonny and King and Reese Witherspoon once fell asleep at one of his parties. Shocking that you could fall asleep watching Prince, but not as shocking as the celebrity crush King revealed in a recent appearance on Kimmel: Sam Elliott.

"The Favourite" is not Olivia Colman's first dramatic turn in an Oscar-nominated film, as she appeared alongside Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady." Colman told Graham Norton about playing around on the set with her co-star, taking funny pictures of Streep and co-star Jim Broadbent wearing their fake teeth. It only turned awkward when Streep tried to get Colman to pose with her "in our funny English teeth," and Colman had to admit that her funny English teeth were real. 

Normally the makers of animated films don't go on talk shows, but Craig Ferguson just really liked "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs," the first animated feature from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who got an Oscar nomination for producing "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse." So he invited them on his show. Ferguson was curious about the film, but he was even more curious about how the two made it into movies from their old jobs at CBS. "Help me," he implored them. Then Miller immediately made a joke about R. Kelly, which might explain why they haven't been allowed on a late-night show since.

Lady Gaga is now an accomplished, award-winning actress, with an Emmy and Golden Globe to her name, and these days she's fairly sedate on talk shows. But back in 2011, she made a wild appearance on Letterman. Gaga wore a black rubber bra, lace-up boots and a black mask, and when Letterman asked about the rumor that she ate a Barbie doll head during her shows, she took a bite out of his note cards. Letterman sometimes ate a first-time guest alive; Gaga bit back. Two years later, she wore an equally crazy outfit and took Bill Murray and the entire "Late Show" audience to watch her perform at the Roseland Ballroom down the street. 

People occasionally have trouble pronouncing Best Supporting Actor nominee (and former winner) Mahershala Ali's name. But as he explained to Jimmy Kimmel in 2017, it could be much tougher. "Mahershala" is a nickname, the short version of his real name, Mahershalalhashbaz, which is also the longest name in the Bible. While the sheer length of the name intimidates TSA staff at the airport, it's fortunate for the Academy that he goes by the short version. Otherwise there would have been another "Moonlight"-related issue with the awards cards.

While Sam Rockwell won Best Supporting Actor last year and was nominated again this year, for "Vice," his acting will always come second to his dancing in the hearts of fans. In 2013, he and Jimmy Fallon improvised made-up dances based on names drawn from a bag. Dances included "The Sassy Lasso," "The Puttin' On Some Deodorant" and the "I'm Holding Six Cats And They're All Moving." This was a more formalized dance game, but Rockwell has been dancing on Fallon's show for years.

Best Supporting Actor nominee Adam Driver knows that when promoting your movie on a talk show, generally, the guest brings a clip. But due to the secrecy surrounding all things "Star Wars," Driver couldn't provide any movie footage when he went on Stephen Colbert's show to promote "The Last Jedi." What can you do in that situation? Act out the movie using action figures, of course. That's simply not possible with "BlacKkKlansman" because no one is ever going to produce a line of David Duke toys. 

The triply-nominated Bradley Cooper proved he was a quadruple threat this year with "A Star Is Born," a movie he wrote, directed, starred in and wrote songs for. But he showed another dimension of his talents when visiting Ellen DeGeneres in 2015 , where he "helped" her cook by providing the arms. After all, Cooper played a chef in "Burnt," so who better to spill food all over the counter and force Ellen to drink wine? He provided some actual assistance later when he made a surprise appearance to help Ellen and Michelle Obama take a selfie. Very kind, though he probably shouldn't make a habit of running at the First Lady.

Best Animated Feature nominee Wes Anderson has never appeared on a late-night talk show. They're not really quirky enough for him, as no network has hired a sea captain to host a talk show or an eclectic private school student with a talk show set made out of papier-mâché. But Wes Anderson has appeared on the fake talk show "Mondo Monda," a DVD extra feature for "The Life Aquatic," hosted by Italian film critic and director Antonio Monda. While the show is artificial, Monda's interview style is really like this: blunt direct questions followed by occasionally befuddled reactions. Monda also plays himself in "The Life Aquatic" and delivers the immortal line, "that's an endangered species at most. What would be the scientific purpose of killing it?"