Jon Stewart To Host Oscars

[savafan]

http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/05/jon...acescan13.html

NEW YORK - And the 2006 Oscar Awards go to...Jon Stewart.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced Thursday that the annual Hollywood celebration of cinema excellence--or sometimes, popularity--will be hosted by none other than the standup comic turned snide commentator.

Stewart, 43, has experience playing emcee, having hosted the Grammys twice.

Doubtless the sharp-witted host of the Daily Show, jewel of Viacom (nyse: VIA - news - people ) cable channel Comedy Central, would find the Tinseltown gig not only fun but fitting: Stewart presides over a show that embodies the postmodern blurring of art and reality, with more and more youths declaring his faux-journalism comedy program their main source for news. Never mind the fact that, like Orson Welles' infamous 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, Stewart--often within the show itself--announces that it is, in fact, all made up.

(Click here to see a series of exclusive interviews with Stewart on the Forbes.com Video network.)

One report says AMPAS contacted Stewart shortly before Christmas, and the deal was cemented a day or two before the holiday. The BBC quoted him as saying, "As an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice. ...It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal."

Stewart, who also appeared in the brilliant docu-comedy The Aristocrats, won the 2005 Thurber Prize for his Daily Show spinoff book, A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction.

Will he shine in the sometimes-daunting duty of shepherding the most glittering citizens of "La La Land?" One thing is in his favor: He likely couldn't do worse than David Letterman. (Sorry, Dave.)

[RBA]

What's funny is my republican neighbor who is a fan of the Daily Show just came to the realization that Jon Stewart is a "liberal". She apparently had no clue for the last couple years.

[Johnny Footstool]

Stewart often lampoons the idea of celebrity; I don't think he'll go over well in a room full of people who are completely dedicated to the notion of celebrity and all the pomp and circumstance it involves.

[Johnny Footstool]

What's funny is my republican neighbor who is a fan of the Daily Show just came to the realization that Jon Stewart is a "liberal". She apparently had no clue for the last couple years.

Well, he does hide it pretty well...

[RBA]

Well, he does hide it pretty well...

Yup, I'm waiting for her to ask me if I think he is Jewish.

[Doc. Scott]

Yeah, I'm sort of wondering if Stewart doesn't heel on the whole concept a little bit. He seems good at that lately (Crossfire) and his peers are realizing it gets people talking (witness David Letterman's straight-faced dressing-down of Bill O'Reilly earlier this week).

[Dom Heffner]

I think it would be a great idea to introduce Oprah to Uma. You know, use it as a play on words gag where you just repeat "Oprah" and "Uma" over and over.

People love that stuff.

[top6]

Last night on the Daily Show, Stewart said that being asked to host to Oscars was like winning a Heisman. Basically, no matter how the rest of his career turns out, they'll never be able to take it away from him - unless he goes crazy and murders his wife (and even then it's pretty hard).

[Blimpie]

Last night on the Daily Show, Stewart said that being asked to host to Oscars was like winning a Heisman. Basically, no matter how the rest of his career turns out, they'll never be able to take it away from him - unless he goes crazy and murders his wife (and even then it's pretty hard).

Pretty good line...except that he stole it almost verbatim from Norm MacDonald who dropped that one on the audience a few years ago when he was hosting the ESPY Awards. Norm did see fit to add "unless you kill your ex-wife...and a waiter"

I believe that, at that time, Norm was speaking directly to Desmond Howard (who had just won the Heisman Award) seated in the first row of the crowd. The crowd absolutely howled when he said it. With the camera focused directly on Desmond's, all he could do was hide his face in his hands...

[savafan]

Stewart did a great job last night. Kept the show rolling, and was funny when the occasion called for it. I think that was the quickest Oscar awards show I've ever seen.

[Doc. Scott]

I thought he was pretty good. Not every joke was a winner, but the fake political commercials and the improv-d riffs on Three-Six Mafia winning an Oscar were great.

[Johnny Footstool]

Tough audience. They didn't seem to follow many of his jokes. I thought he did a good job with a very difficult gig.

[smith288]

I dont mind Stewart too much... Im a righty so I disagree with him much of the time but his humor when he lampoon the left is funny to me. So at least 50% of the time he is funny to me.