Chelsea Handler poked fun at Leonardo DiCaprio during her monologue at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night.
To kick off the annual prizegiving held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, the comedy star took to the stage to acknowledge many of the nominees.
"Leo's here," she began, motioning to the One Battle After Another actor in the audience. "Thank God. Leo almost didn't make it tonight because he was trapped on a boat in St. Bart's. It was just like the Titanic, but worse, because (Amazon founder) Jeff Bezos was there."
The joke elicited a loud cheer from the audience, with a close-up of Leonardo seeing him smile and laugh in response.
The 51-year-old was forced to skip an appearance at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala over the weekend, where he was set to accept a Desert Palm Achievement Award, due to travel restrictions.
Elsewhere in the opener, Chelsea took aim at Seth Rogen's character in the Apple TV series, The Studio.
"Seth Rogen is here tonight. Years of playing stoners, slackers, and underachievers who do next to nothing all day prepared Seth for his latest role of someone who does even less - a studio head," the TV presenter teased.
In addition, Chelsea praised the cast of the popular new TV show, Heated Rivalry.
"Shout-out to Heated Rivalry; everyone loves it: Gay men love it, women love it, straight men who say they aren't gay but work out at (gym) Equinox love it!" she exclaimed.
And to conclude the monologue, Chelsea switched up her tone to pay a heartfelt tribute to Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
The legendary actor-director, 78, and his photographer-producer wife, 70, were found dead at their home in Los Angeles in mid-December. Their son Nick Reiner, 32, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
"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 tonnes of questions, whether you were discussing politics or film or the latest beauty trends - he was all in," Chelsea remembered. "Rob and Michele were tireless in their efforts to (support) so many important causes, all stemming from one basic idea: decency and that we should all look out for each other. I think we can all agree that we definitely need more of that. So, let's use tonight as a reminder of that decency and as a reminder of everything Rob and Michele represented and fought so hard for."
One Battle After Another was one of the big winners at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, with the film winning Best Picture and Paul Thomas Anderson taking home the prize for Best Director.
