After last year’s Oscar host Seth MacFarlane was criticized the world over for his dopey boob song, which went so far as to garner official condemnation from members of congress (who were clearly focusing on the important issues), this year, re-hired producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron went the other direction, choosing a host sure not to piss off anyone, Ellen Degeneres. Last year’s singing is this year’s dancing!
It will be DeGeneres’ second tour of duty as Oscar host, having previously emceed the 79th annual Academy Awards in 2007. The popular syndicated talkshow host also fronted the Emmys in 2001 and 2005 (co-hosting them in 2003).
“I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time,” DeGeneres said, joking that “you know what they say – the third time’s the charm.”
“We are thrilled to have Ellen DeGeneres host the Oscars,” said Zadan and Meron jointly. “As a longtime friend, we had always hoped to find a project for us to do together and nothing could be more exciting than teaming up to do the Oscars. There are few stars today who have Ellen’s gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity. ” [Variety]
“Ellen Degeneres? More like Ellen Sui Generis! I mean that dame’s one of a kind!” (For in case you need another generic pull quote).
But yeah, Ellen already hosted back in 2007. Remember that? …Yeah, me neither. But like I’ve said, hosting the Oscars is a thankless task, and it doesn’t really matter who you get to host. You could get Louis CK or Patton Oswalt to host, and it’s still not going to be a rollicking good time, because the format involves reading TV-clean teleprompter jokes to a room full of people who are there to kiss each other’s asses. And that’s fine, that’s what the Oscars are for. It’s not a job for an aspiring Lenny Bruce. So you might as well hire someone who’s famous for doing hoky, TV-friendly material.
Ellen is one of those public figures that I can continue to think is talented and perfectly pleasant, as long as I never watch her show, which would probably annoy the piss out of me. I have a similar policy on church.