Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Spoof “Barbie”, “Dirty Dancing” and More for “Live”'s After the Oscars Show (Exclusive)
The 'Live with Kelly and Mark' hosts take PEOPLE behind the scenes of their After the Oscars Show episode, which airs Monday from the Dolby Theatre in L.A.
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are heading to La La Land for Live's annual After the Oscars Show — and PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at how it all kicks off!
The couple will co-host their New York City-based daytime talk show from the Dolby Theatre stage in Los Angeles on Monday, a yearly tradition the syndicated series has adapted to celebrate the glitz and glamour of the Academy Awards.
Like in previous years, the episode will open with a taped package featuring the Live stars parodying various movies. For the 2024 offering — premiering on PEOPLE above — the team tackled a slew of favorite films including There's Something About Mary, Basic Instinct, A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, Dirty Dancing and, of course, 2023's blockbuster Barbie.
"We always have the greatest time putting these packages together," Consuelos, 52, tells PEOPLE. "It's our chance to live our big-screen fantasies, and have a little laugh with these movies we love so much."
"It's really funny, because we do a lot of work to get it right," adds Ripa, 53. "Like, we try to do our deliveries as precisely as we can, but we work in our own tributes to ourselves and to our Live show within the written script of the movie. So it makes it very bonkers and zany."
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Framing the clip this year is Nicole Kidman's treasured AMC Theatres "We come to this place for magic" advertisement. Though the ad's campiness has helped it cross into the cultural zeitgeist over the past few years, Ripa herself was unfamiliar with the scene.
"I tend to see movies when they're available for streaming at home, just because I tend to not like to go to movie theaters in general, so I was totally unfamiliar with this AMC movie preamble by Nicole Kidman," she says. "That was truly me walking blindly into something having never seen it before. And so they kept playing it for me on the computer and I would say, 'Okay, stop. Play it again.' "
She delivered the lines flawlessly, and even looked like Kidman, 56, in the same sparkling pinstripe jumpsuit. "Kristofer Buckle did my makeup, because I was like, 'How are you going to make me look like Nicole Kidman?' " Ripa recalls. " 'There is no way I could ever be that beautiful and glamorous! Good luck.' But he really is a magician."
"It was eerie," Consuelos tells PEOPLE. "He turns you into Nicole Kidman."
Buckle didn't stop there. He transformed Ripa into Sharon Stone, too, for Basic Instinct's iconic interrogation scene.
"It was the greatest thing I've ever done," says Ripa. "We may or may not have sent the photos to Sharon Stone, just so she could tell me if I need to work on anything."
Consuelos didn't need to do the same when he channeled Mandy Patinkin's Princess Bride character Inigo Montoya.
"I've seen that movie so many times, I knew it like the back of my hand," the Riverdale alum tells PEOPLE. "We laughed a lot doing it. It was so great."
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"You actually were incredible. I thought you really pulled it off," Ripa says. "Mark's an actor, so it's kind of unfair because he can really become the character."
"Really?" he asks her. "I try to be a little modest with my performance. I would say I'm more of a mimic. Like when I got to be Tom Cruise in the courtroom scene from A Few Good Men. That was really so cool."
Jokes Ripa, "There's no living with you now ... "
"Nope," Consuelos replies.
But it was one scene the couple did together that gave them both a little pause: the Dirty Dancing lift Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey made famous in the beloved 1987 movie.
"I'm a dancer and Mark is very strong. So you would think, piece of cake, no problem. But it is shockingly difficult to do this," Ripa says. "And I really blame myself more than anyone, because it's up to me to hold my own weight in that position. It's really just up to Mark to put me over his head. But it was shockingly difficult!"
To make sure Ripa didn't get injured, the Live crew padded the floor with protection in case of a fall. "The amount of mattresses that we had surrounding us ... " says Ripa. "We managed to get it, but it was a challenging three seconds to get."
"Well, they put the mattress just in case I dropped her. And I was like, 'I'm not dropping my wife. She's staying up there,' " Consuelos remembers.
"They didn't worry about me getting hurt; they were afraid that I was going to collapse on top of you, and injure you," jokes Ripa. "You're the money maker!"
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And then, of course, there was Barbie — a role Ripa has parodied in multiple episodes of Live over the decades, and especially since photos of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling rollerblading in neon at Venice Beach while filming the Barbie movie made headlines in June 2022.
"I have played Barbie more than anyone. I played Barbie more than Barbie doll herself! I have played Barbie a lot every year. I keep saying, 'Guys, this has to be the last year that we're playing Barbie. But imagine our shock and horror when Barbie the movie came out and suddenly we knew, I'd be back in that Barbie costume."
"Yeah, this is the wrong year for hoping you wouldn't be," Consuelos laughs. "It was such a juggernaut."
"But nobody does it better than Margot Robbie, that's for sure," Ripa says.
Live's After the Oscars episode will feature musician Andy Grammer performing a medley of songs, comedian Sebastian Maniscalco offering his take on the night, and Project Runway's Elaine Welteroth talking Oscars fashion. The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer will also serve as the red carpet correspondent for Live.
But the highlight is always the interviews Ripa and Consuelos have with winners directly from backstage at the Dolby Theatre, minutes after they clinch their trophies.
"It's literally the two of us crammed into the smallest space you've ever seen in your life, with a table and a camera, and then somehow, just when you think it can't get any tighter, they put a celebrity there," Ripa says.
The location serves as the perfect spot for some of the best celebrity interactions of the night.
"Mark hasn't seen this yet, 'cause this will be his first time doing there, but these people are not quite in their bodies yet when they come to talk to us," explains Ripa. "These are people at the pinnacle of their careers, who've just won the highest form of honor that you can in their industry."
"And eight seconds later, they are talking to us. So the reactions are always really fun to watch," she adds.
Related: Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest Take Flight in 'Top Gun' Spoof for 'Live' After Oscar Show — Watch
This year's show will be particularly special for the parents of three. Consuelos was announced as Live's permanent co-host right before last year's ceremony, and posed on the red carpet alongside Ripa and exiting co-host Ryan Seacrest to promote the transition.
"We'll have a little anniversary celebration," Ripa tells PEOPLE, joking, "It's just as much about us as it is about the winners."
The show has taken on a new energy since Consuelos joined, with the morning show's game of "Stump Mark" becoming a breakout hit.
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But despite the critical and ratings success, Ripa is just happy to be sharing the experience with her husband of 28 years every day.
"I am so proud of Mark," she notes. "The way he has taken over, he's made the show his own and he's done it very seamlessly. And I treasure this crew that we have here — this group of producers — and to watch just the way Mark treats everyone, the way everyone is around Mark."
Ripa adds, "It's a family. And so I just really love the camaraderie that we have. It's a special place."
Live with Kelly and Mark's After the Oscars Show episode airs Mondays in syndication (check local listings).
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Read the original article on People.