The 2026 Critics Choice Awards have come and gone, and amid all the major fashion and major wins, certain standout moments seem destined to live on forever (in our hearts and in Instagram meme format, at least).
From host Chelsea Handler’s touching tribute to Rob Reiner and Jimmy Kimmel’s reference to his 2025 suspension to lighter fare, like Timothée Chalamet’s rare public shoutout to girlfriend Kylie Jenner, here are all of the best moments from the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.
Chelsea Handler’s opening monologue
At this point, I’m used to white-knuckling my way through comedian hosts’ monologues (not naming any names, and not to punch down at people Handler may or may not have dated, but… looking at you, Jo Koy). Sunday’s ceremony however, was pretty expertly emceed by four-time host Chelsea Handler. Handler obviously knows how to land a joke, but she managed to find the award-show sweet spot, making fun of David Zaslav and Adam Sandler with equal panache. My contender for best joke of the night? Handler saying, “I haven’t been invited to a Black person’s house since Sinners… The only person who has invited me is Nicki Minaj, but who wants to go over there?”
A fitting tribute to Rob Reiner
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While the tragic recent death of the celebrated actor and director and his wife, film producer Michele Singer Reiner, didn’t dominate the night, it was touching to hear Handler refer to Reiner as “the nicest guy in Hollywood.” She went on: “Anyone who ever spent time with Rob Reiner knows that the minute you met him, he felt like an old friend when you were in a conversation with him. He was present, he was focused, and he was funny, and he would ask you tons of questions, whether you were discussing politics or film or the latest beauty trends.” While the Reiners’ legacy is sure to be memorialized further during the 2026 awards season, Handler’s tribute set a strong and empathetic tone.
Michael B. Jordan attending with his mom, Donna
There is nothing that makes me as specifically and randomly emotional as attractive men bringing their moms as their dates to award shows, so obviously, I was quite a fan of Michael B. Jordan showing up with his mother, Donna, to celebrate his well-deserved critical acclaim for Sinners. If I may be so bold as to say: Donna, drop the skincare routine immediately!
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Jimmy Kimmel taking on Trump
The late-night accepted his Critics Choice Award for best talk show by taking the stage and addressing his beef with the Oval Office head-on: “I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump, without whom we would be going home empty-handed tonight.” All that, and being introduced with a genuinely funny bit from Marcello Hernández Sebastian Maniscalco? An embarrassment of award-show riches!
Timothée Chalamet’s blink-and-you-missed-it Kylie shoutout
I honestly didn’t realize that Chalamet and Kylie Jenner had been together for so long (time passes fast!), but the Marty Supreme star made a sweet and rare public reference to his relationship with Jenner—who was by his side at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards—as he accepted his award for best actor, saying: "Thank you to my partner of three years. Thank you for our foundation. I love you. I couldn’t do this without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." Aw!
See every look from the 2026 Critics Choice Awards red carpet here:
