When it was announced that Billy Crystal would host the Oscars after Brett Ratner got fired for calling everyone a fag and Eddie Murphy went with him, the world responded with a resounding “meh.” It was as if they’d already skipped to the fourth step of Billy Crystal: acceptance. But the Oscar producers couldn’t have people not excited about the Oscars. That just wouldn’t do! So the lead producer called a special meeting in his war room deep in the bowels of show business headquarters. He looked his flunkies in the face. No one had any ideas! That’s when he took a long drag on his electronic cigarette and said purposefully, “…Bring me Duhamel.”
The awed flunkies muttered in unison, “You mean… The Charismanator.”
The chief hit a giant red button on his desk, and that’s when this video was made.
This is the first Oscars trailer, produced with the help of Funny or Die.
“We wanted to try something a little bit different this year instead of a traditional, clip-based piece,” academy chief marketing officer Christina Kounelias said in a statement. “The trailer has a fun twist that conveys how excited everyone is to have Billy back.” [LaTimes]
It certainly does do a great job conveying how Billy Crystal isn’t funny, but just likable enough for you to want to pretend that he’s funny and then feel guilty about not laughing. It’s the comedic equivalent of an ugly stripper. “Okay, okay, here’s two chuckles, just stop with the impressions already.”
The Oscars air February 26th.