Los Angeles, Feb 27 (IANS): It was a moment of surprise and awe when Jimmy Kimmel escorted a group of wide-eyed tourists with selfie sticks into the Dolby Theatre in the middle of the 89th Academy Awards ceremony here.

Kimmel asked for the lights to be turned off and requested audience to stay silent, as he said: "They (tourists) think they're about to walk into an exhibit."

"Welcome to the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards, which are in fact happening right now," Kimmel told the tourists as he escorted them on Sunday night.

He then went ahead and introduced several stars including Nicole Kidman, Octavia Spencer and Ryan Gosling to the tourists, whom he got from a Hollywood tour bus.

The highlight of the surprise came when actor Denzel Washington got up and pronounced a tourist couple husband and wife.

Washington got Gary from Chicago and his fiance, Vicki married live on TV.

There were several other light moments like when the American writer-comedian-voice actor, who is hosting the award gala for the first time, asked the tourists not to look into Ryan Gosling's eyes.

Kimmel also asked actress Jennifer Aniston to give her sunglasses to one of the tourists and she complied.

The popular late-night talk show host also gave a tour to the tourists, and passed over actress Meryl Streep saying she is "overrated", taking a dig at US President Donald Trump's view of the 20-times nominated actress.

Then Kimmel had each of them touch Mahershala Ali's Oscar, which he won for his role in "Moonlight".