Humor at the Oscars: Where Was It?
Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:15PM by Eric Blume
ABC/Art Streiber
My Oscar assignment for the site was to do a review of the show's hosts (Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall) and cover the evening's best jokes. But the next day, it's difficult-come-impossible to do such a thing, because there really was little to no humor in the show! In fact, the evening drove into such an abyss of darkness that it was actually full-on depressing. What can one say about a program that is meant to honor the highest artistic achievements of the craft, when there is no attention given to art, achievement, or craft?
I will do my best to quickly execute my given assignment nonetheless. There were jokes in there somewhere...
The three hosts never embarrassed themselves, but they had zero chemistry together and appeared as though they had maybe met for about 30 minutes before curtain. Their opening, where they stood woodenly beside each other delivering individual "jokes" that had no symmetry, build, or pizzazz...started the evening off flat, and they never really recovered. Their attempts at building something together, like the run on Samuel L. Jackson, fell in a painful thud. Nathaniel has already written about their terrible "joke" about The Power of the Dog...a masterpiece film which they just refer to as too boring to watch all the way through...but that was just one of several put-downs of more artistic efforts (the crack against The Last Duel fell equally flat and felt equally mean). One could even forgive these jabs at the artist if they were inspiring or funny, or even if the performer made the joke land, sort of like Amy's joke about Sorkin making a movie about Lucille Ball with any laughs in it. As written, the joke can skewer mean, but as delivered by Amy, the timing took the cruelty out of it and it came off as harmless fun. But more often than not, the tone was one of dismissing ambition and integrity. When coupled with clips from movies like Army of Darkness, the evening progressed into not a celebration of the best but almost a shunning of the best.
Amy had the best run of the three hosts. Her first individual monologue near the beginning of the show showed her talent at delivering on even the smallest of jokes (on the years of her body post-pregancy: "not bad for a year, right? it's been two. closer to three..."). Setting herself up as "When Melissa McCarthy says no" in Hollywood, her routine had a subtlety and a confidence that we didn't see before or afterwards. She nailed that harmless tone with her joke about "Academy members clearly DON'T LOOK UP reviews" and got a personal joke in there for her close friend Jennifer Lawrence (I appreciated that she put it in there probably JUST to make Jennifer laugh). Nothing killed, but it was harmless enough and Amy had a steady hand with the material.
Wanda tried some more sustained bits, like dressing up as King Richard, which went nowhere, and her extended piece at the Academy Museum was unfortunately filled with jokes that felt like placeholders in a conference room that the writers never got back to.
CREDIT: NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY
And the less said about Regina Hall the better. She's a lovely actress, but she was awkward and stitled as a host and never found her timing with any of the jokes. And her bit about Covid swabbing Hollywood's hottest dudes was horrifying: imagine the sexes being switched on that set-up, and can you imagine the controversy? Aren't we better than this? Can't a room full of joke writers find better, smarter, funnier set-ups and jokes?
I realize the irony of my writing a column about humor and comedy in a show and delivering this dirge of a review! I'm usually able to laugh these things off, enjoy a bunch of Hollywood-elite burn jokes, and find a rainbow amongst the weakest of hosts. But this year was truly different. The show felt spiritually ugly and garish, determined to pitch to lowest-common-denominator tastes and thinking. I've watched the Oscars since I'm ten years old, and despite the stupid politics of who wins and why and who loses and why, this annual tradition had glamour and grace and style and at least worked hard to celebrate artistic achievement and put our best face out to the 70 million people watching worldwide. This year felt like a sad disgrace and brutally reflective of the painful divides in our country.
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Amy Schumer, Oscar Ceremonies, Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, comedy
Reader Comments (18)
There was humor at the show?
imagine the sexes being switched on that set-up, and can you imagine the controversy?
Sexism is problem faced by women, not men. Women systematically abusing their positions of power is unheard of. That's why the joke hits completely different when made by a woman, because it's an absurd. Made by a man it would be creepy, cuz it is probable.
One of the advantages of having watched 50 years of Oscar ceremonies is perspective. There are always highs and lows. But the difference this year was the level of mean-spiritedness in the room as a whole.
The host is supposed to provide a bit of quick wit as an antidote to some of the stuffiness of a dignified occasion. This years ceremony had so little respect or dignity, that it made the insult comedy come across even worse. As has been said by others, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg at least were movie fans, who were having a little fun. But you could feel the love of the craft.
There was precious little love of craft all evening.
Not since Seth Macfarland sang "I Saw Your Boobs" have I felt so 'slimed' by an Oscar telecast.
Just remember there were some great films this year, but you really never saw the richness of talent appreciated. Maybe that's why the jokes seemed meaner and lamer than usual.
I guess I'm in the minority and thought they were actually really great together. Highly disagree that they had no chemistry - I honestly thought they did and were having fun.
Sr. Dan, i'm sorry, but sexism is not only "a problem faced by women". i know it sounds very convenient to say that, but it is simply is not true. of course, it is far, far less than in reverse, but sexism is simply discrimination based on sex. it does work both ways. and i agree with you that the joke lands differently because of the historic horrors that women have had to go through in regards to sexism, but the joke as set up by the writers, and played out by the performer, did not land and was painfully protracted, and to my point, just could have been elevated to something far smarter and funnier.
One of the reasons I didn't watch the whole show live was the choice of hosts and this article confirms I made the right decision. I've only seen the bit with Schumer calling Dunst a seat-holder, and I don't need to see any more of that "humor."
Yes, it was the worst Oscar night ever. Hollywood is dead, let's enjoy Berlin, Venice and Cannes!
I can't stand Wanda Sykes. It's her voice. The museum thing was endless.
Regina approached the whole thing as an actress doing a comedy sketch, but that's not quite the job of a host. Amy fits better in that suit.
Overall, it was all too vulgar.
I laughed a lot during the opening monologue and then Amy's solo run right after. Regina's bit about covid and being horny for certain single celebrities was cringy, but she got a joke in about Jada/Will before the unfortunate slap. Oscar hosts have made jokes about how boring or slow some of the movies were in the past (even Hugh Jackman sang a lyric that he hadn't seen the Reader, yet was beloved as a host). Wanda was funny enough I guess, but that Oscar museum bit went on a little long. They've been promoting it on the Oscar telecast for years though. I won't mind seeing all 3 return.
As a a mean to get these three actresses back to our consciousness, I think it worked reasonably well, especially for Schumer and Sykes. And considering what everyone ended up talking about, I think a passing great is already the highest one possible. I appreciated Schumer's attempt to the lighten the mood after the slap, though her seat filler bit should really be cut, considering the mood in the room already.
Hmm, I'm with mikenewq09, I think. I found all three ladies funny and thought they had decent chemistry, especially for not having appeared together before (right?). And I totally want to go to the Oscar museum.
But yeah, I, too, could've done without Regina Hall feeling up the guys. Even if you don't believe in reverse sexism, it just feeds the grievances of those who do.
Everyone seems mad at the Academy for disrespecting the very films they're supposed to be honoring, which I get. I'm still mad that they cut crafts awards from the telecast, too, and shoehorned in so-called Twitter faves instead! But some willingness to poke fun at their own pretensions is ok, I think, and maybe even necessary. The fact that Oscar continues to honor films like Power of the Dog (a movie I love as much as anyone else here) that only 4% of this country has seen, maybe 2% understood, and only 1% really liked may be dispiriting, but I don't see why it can't be a joke.
You are right on about the absence of humor. This show made Rob Lowe look great!!!!!
Eric - I'm sorry but do men earn less money, have less career opportunities, are responsible for all housework, face violence and death solely based o their gender?? They do not. So excuse me if I'm not buying reverse sexism. Men do not suffer sexism, they benefit from it.
I'm not defending Regina's joke here. At 1st it was funny, but it played out for too long and fell flat.
But I'm tired to read let's change the genders and see how bad it would be. This makes no sense. Genders are not interchangeable in our society.Women are in a completely different and worse position than men in our world. So of course it would feel different and it should. If you swap genders in any given situation this would happen
Women do not systematically harrass men. That's why this comparison is pointless.
I continually changed channels whenever the one or all of the three hosts appeared as my rating boycott against the eight 'below the line' categories being edited into the show. When presenters would start wind-bagging, I'd MUTE them until they started talking about the nominees. That being said, my biggest laugh came from Jane Campion. I busted out laughing when she received her award from the long-winded (and MUTED) Kevin Costner, and thanked him for his speech 'which was Very Dramatic...' He then had to stand there holding her award while she read a Thank You speech from a sheet of paper. After that award was given, how could you possibly enjoy the show after the Will Smith incident?
Sr. Dan, I absolutely agree with you that genders aren't interchangeable and that women "have it worse in the world." of course. but men do suffer sexism. sexism is simply discrimination based on gender, just like racism is discrimination based on race. there's no "reverse racism" or "reverse sexism"...those terms only exist by assuming the gender or race of the person more traditionally in power. anybody who exerts sexism benefits from it. yes, that is usually men, a grossly disproportionate amount of the time, but sometimes women benefit from it. it's like saying that white people don't experience racism. i'm not trying to make any kind of white male "boo-hoo" case here...i agree with all of your sentiments on the power structures in our world and their terrible run-offs. but if we are truly fighting for real equality, we should hold all genders and races to similar standards, in my opinion. i'm happy to continue this on a private email thread if you prefer...i hope you hear it in the good spirit of healthy discourse.
I've witnessed some really insidious examples of sexism and harassment from female managers towards male workers, and of course I've witnessed it the other way around as well. People can be arseholes, no matter their gender. Men may be the main aggressors and women may not systematically harass men, but is this really a reason to dismiss individual cases of female-on-male harassment where they occur?
I'm going out on a limb here but I thought Schumer was pretty funny, and I've never been her biggest fan. She did a great job of easing the tension after the Will Smith debacle. I thought all three ladies did well to hold things together.
Amy was easily the best of the three, even if after the ceremony it was one of her jokes that seemed to get the most (dumb) attention.
Amy was easily the best of the three, even if after the ceremony it was one of her jokes that seemed to get the most (dumb) attention.