Long forgotten in the kerfuffle that ended the 2017 Oscars, when La La Land's victory was snatched from its jaws and handed to Moonlight, were Jimmy Kimmel's tossed-aside words: "I don't know what happened. I blame myself for this. … I knew I would screw this show up, I really did."

Perhaps he was joking. Regardless, his comment opened a window on the thinking of one of the few Oscar hosts in recent memory who's escaped relatively unscathed after his two turns at bat, revealing that even a seasoned late-night host was convinced the first experience would end in failure.

Kimmel's fears were hardly unjustified. Take a look at the roundelay of performers who've embraced show business' most perilous assignment, and the failure rate is enough to give even that rock climber in Free Solo vertigo. Ever since Billy Crystal passed the baton in 2004 (he made a one-off return that drew a tepid response in 2012), the Academy has struggled to find the right anchor, and nobody has been willing to run the gantlet more than twice. Among the two-timers: Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Hugh Jackman, Chris Rock and Jon Stewart — most of whom have vowed never to do it again (though "never" has a certain elasticity in Hollywood). Contrast that with Oscar's glory days, when Johnny Carson hosted five times, Crystal nine and Bob Hope a swoon-inducing 19.