Bradley Cooper plays himself on ‘Abbott Elementary’ after losing big at Oscars 2024

He was a big Oscar loser, but he nearly won over the kids of Abbott Elementary. 

Bradley Cooper, 49, remained Oscarless on Sunday night, failing to take home a trophy for a 12th time, this year for “Maestro.”

But, after the ceremony on ABC, an episode of the hit comedy “Abbott Elementary” aired — and Cooper was a special guest. 

At the beginning of this installment of the Quinta Brunson-created comedy, the actor comes to the school as the guest of a second grader.

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But the class keeps mixing up what movies he did.

“I just loved you in ‘The Holdovers.’ It was just so heartwarming,” Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) tells Cooper. 

That movie’s star, Paul Giamatti, also got a Best Actor nod this year, but “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy took home the gold trophy. 

“It’s ‘The Hangover ‘and no it’s not,” Gregory (Tyler James Williams) says.

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“Guys, he’s literally in a critically acclaimed film right now,” Janine (Brunson) says, to which Melissa replies: “Mhm, ‘Oppenheimer.’”

“Is that the one about Napoleon?” asks Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis).

Cooper finally interrupts, telling everyone, “I wasn’t in ‘Oppenheimer.’”

Ava (Janelle James) asks him, “Are you sure? Everybody was in ‘Oppenheimer.”

A student then explains why he brought Cooper: “Everybody wanted to take a picture with him, so I figured he was famous.” 

When another kid asks Cooper if he was in “Spider-Man,” Cooper says that he wasn’t in that franchise, but was in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

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Showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker told the Hollywood Reporter that star Brunson gets pitched constantly by “very, very famous people wanting to be on the show,” but they only agree to it when it “makes sense.” 

“All of us are in agreement, and this comes down from Quinta, that if it can’t make sense in the context of what we’re treating as a real documentary about a real school in Philadelphia, then 95 percent of the people who want to be on the show and play themselves, like their real-life counterpart essentially, it doesn’t really make a ton of sense,” Schumacker said of the Emmy-winning series. 

“We don’t want to break that sort of precious truth that we’re trying to seek out with the show. That said, sometimes it’s very hard to resist.”

Cooper grew up in Pennsylvania, where the show is set.

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On the latest episode, he tells everyone: “Whenever I’m in Philly, you know the deli across the street? That’s my first stop. My dad used to always take me there. They have the best hoagies in the city.” 

Cooper went home from the Oscars empty-handed, despite the seven nominations “Maestro” received. In the past he’s been nominated for “A Star Is Born,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle” and “American Sniper,” among other films, but to date he’s never won an Academy Award. 

He did get a moment in the spotlight, however, when host bringing his mom, Gloria Campano, to award shows as his date. 

“Hi, Mrs. Cooper. How are you?” Kimmel addressed Gloria from the stage during his opening monologue.

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“Bradley brings his mother to every award show,” he went on. “Last year at the Oscars, and the Tonys, and the Soul Train Awards.”

Kimmel continued, “It’s very sweet but I guess the question is, how many times can one bring his mom as his date before he is actually dating his mom?

“Are you working on a movie about Freud right now and not telling us?” Kimmel added, referring to psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud, who coined the term Oedipus Complex.