Curse of the Chupacabra

Friday, February 24, 2012

And the Winner for Best Oscar Host Goes To: BILLY CRYSTAL


It's the 84th Annual Academy Awards this Sunday and I am SO EXCITED!!!  Oscar and I go back a long, long time.  I've even had the pleasure of being a security guard at the Academy Awards for two consecutive years, but I quickly hung up my badge and started throwing an annual Academy Awards party because I was missing all the fun of watching the show.  I started my annual tradition sometime in the early 1990's and haven't missed a year since.  There is food, drink, ballots, decorations, all the stuff to celebrate Hollywood's biggest self-gratifying night.  Yes, I am not bemused by what Oscar stands for, and I don't care - never have and probably never will.  I have been a film geek ever since I watched the first Star Wars movie in the theatre on opening weekend and Oscar lets me annually celebrate my love of films with him.  Of course, there is the glitz and fashion, which I could honestly care less about, what I love is watching the awards show humanize Hollywood by DVR'ing the ceremony then re-watching each losers expression, in the acting categories, as the winner's name is announced.  So much fun!  Of course, they're actors, and most of them look thrilled for the victor, and some even genuine, but occasionally they slip and some don't even try (Kathleen Turner when she lost for Peggy Sue Got Married).

However!... there is one thing I love even more than phony actor expressions and that is Billy Crystal as the show's host.  Sadly, this doesn't happen every year, in fact, Billy has only been Oscar host nine times (second to Bob Hope), but as history has proven, when Billy is host, the show does not seem as long as non-Billy years and the critic's reviews are normally just as golden as the little statue.  Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed other recent hosts such as Ellen Degeneres and Whoopi Goldberg, but I may actually boycott the Academy Awards if they ever let James Franco host again (the glassy eyes and stunted equilibrium is only funny for a minute or two).

So, in honor of Billy's return, here is a look back at just two of his finer moments.  Enjoy!

2003 Academy Awards Intro Montage

Billy's first Oscar opening monologue

1 comment:

  1. OMG! Kathleen Turner has to go down as the funniest Oscar telecast person ever. Not only the PEGGY SUE reaction, but also her "Some of us had to work!" drunken post-show comment on channel 9 back in the day. LOVE HER!!!
    And rewinding to see their reactions is truly the best part of the show.

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