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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Oscarwatch: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to Co-host
The Alec and Steve Show, Part I

With last week's announcement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that Ricky Gervais, the Great White Snark, would emcee the Golden Globes, I thought that HFPA had trumped the Oscars. Then yesterday, announcing Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin as Oscar co-hosts,  Academy Awards producers bet that on awards shows, as in poker, two kings of comedy are better than one.

The frequent Saturday Night Live fixtures  -- who shared a memorable SNL skit on who was a better host of the late-night show -- have a comic competition going. Martin greeted yesterday's announcement with, "I look forward to co-hosting the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin."

Martin previously emceed two Oscar ceremonies with great aplomb, ingratiating himself both to home audience and that in the auditorium. For me, he's the best Oscar host since Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal, able to rib the big egos in the room because he himself is one of them. ( It's a skill that Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, hilarious as they are, do not possess.) Martin's understated delivery should play well off of Baldwin's bluster. (Still, I wish it was Tina Fey, Baldwin's 30 Rock co-star , instead of Baldwin who was tapped instead of Baldwin.)

Martin and Baldwin co-star in the upcoming Nancy  Meyers comedy It's Complicated  in which they play the ex- and  current bf of Meryl Streep. At next year's Oscars, there will be Streep jokes, to be sure. (And perhaps a Streep win for her jolly role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia.) So: Your favorite Oscar host? Why? Or is the discussion of best Oscar host ludicrous as that of best Titanic skipper?

Posted by Carrie Rickey @ 12:59 PM  Permalink | 5 comments
Comments   
Posted 01:28 PM, 11/04/2009
Bob Ross
The best Oscar host has not yet appeared. He or she will be the host who can make the show a lot shorter.
Posted 01:28 PM, 11/04/2009
garyk
I would enjoy Martin and Baldwin if they WEREN'T co-starring in a film together, making this a cheap ploy to promote their film. I always liked Crystal's opening singing monologue/montages. Bruce Villanch should hostt he Oscars, not just write them.
Posted 01:43 PM, 11/04/2009
ccjroberts
Bob Ross and Gayk are both right. I always liked Bob Hope a lot.
Posted 02:39 PM, 11/04/2009
Pash
This doesn't thrill me, Carrie. For one thing, I'm a bit sick of Baldwin. He seems to be all over the place these days and I find him hugely overrated. And I was once a fan. But he seems to have picked up some bad habits on weekly TV. His schtick has worn thin. And Martin is just a mere shadow of what he used to be. Also, I agree with Gary. The fact that they are in the upcoming Meyers film makes this seem like an unattractive marketing decision. Secondly - and I hate to sound ageist - but is going with two old guys a way to rejuvenate the Oscarcast? I think not. Why not someone young or hip or both? There are any number of great young comic screen actors today who could have handled this and, right now, Neil Patrick Harris has an affable ease about him that should make him the automatic go-to guy for all show-biz hosting gigs. But getting back to the ubiquitous Baldwin, I guess you are aware that he just signed to do a second year of The Essentials on Turner. Think he'll be the eventual replacement host if and when Osborne retires? Seems to be heading in that direction. Unfortunately.
Posted 05:52 PM, 11/04/2009
wwolfe
Johnny Carson. That's an easy one for me. In fact, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I'd get more enjoyment out of watching an old Oscar telecast hosted by Johnny than I would by most of the ones put on since he retired from the job. As ever, he had an unmatchable ability for putting the viewer at ease, while slipping in a remarkable number of genuinely witty zingers.
5 comments
About Carrie Rickey

Carrie Rickey has been The Philadelphia Inquirer’s film critic for 21 years. She has reviewed films as diverse as Water and The Waterboy, profiled celebrities from Lillian Gish to Will Smith, and reported on technological breakthroughs from the video revolution to the rise of movies on demand. Her reviews are syndicated nationwide and she is a regular contributor to Entertainment Weekly. Rickey’s essays appear in numerous anthologies, including The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, The American Century, and the Library of America’s American Movie Critics.

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All blog items posted before May 23, 2008, can be accessed at http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/flickgrrl/.

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