Let John Mulaney Host!
Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 5:00PM 
Reactions vary among Oscar watchers, but I'm tired of Jimmy Kimmel. Comedy is subjective, but I've never warmed up to the late night host as an Academy Awards fixture. His humor comes with a taste of perceived superiority as if he's above the movies honored at the ceremony. To be fair, that's common across award shows everywhere, but we caught a glimpse of something better earlier this season. On January 9th, John Mulaney hosted the Governors Awards, killing it like nobody's business while exuding a sincere love for the medium. He even showed up at the Oscars to ramble about Field of Dreams in the night's best bit. Hopefully, AMPAS saw those appearances as auditions because the Oscars sorely need someone like John Mulaney to take on hosting duties…
The relationship between the Academy to movie history has been fraught in recent years, as the Honorary Oscars were moved out of the telecast and TV producers keep finding ways to screw up the In Memoriam presentation. This year, they added interpretative dance and an over-emphasis on the singers, taking the focus away from the dearly departed artists. Even worse, many names were relegated to a sea of text at the end of the set piece – among them the likes of Kenneth Anger and Terence Davies. It's impossible to overstate the disrespect of such a gesture. For every sweet reference to Beetlejuice (the Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara onstage reunion!), we get this sort of insulting nonsense.
But what about the Governors Awards, the Honorary Oscars to celebrate Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton, and Michael Satter? In years past, these honorees at least warranted a passing mention. This time around, nothing. I had hoped Mulaney's appearance would lead to a montage from the night, maybe a snippet of speeches (Bassett gives a good speech, and who wouldn't want to see her with an Oscar in hand?), but none of that materialized. At least have the winners present to receive a bout of applause or something.
I'm not under the assumption that giving John Mulaney hosting honors would solve these issues. However, it'd be a step in the right direction. His scant brushes with Oscar showcased an ability to jest about the movies without diminishing their greatness, honing on a balance between humor and reverence. Like the best Oscar hosts, he gives the impression of being a cinephile, which should be a requirement of whoever gets the job. Another requirement should be to watch the actual nominees, but I've lost hope on that front. After all, do we really need to hear folks like Kimmel make another joke about how the nominated movies are too long? I think not.
Who would you pick for Oscar host? Mulaney? Gaga? Baby Annette?
Reader Comments (10)
If I recall correctly, when the President of the Academy gave her brief speech (from backstage), she mentioned the Governors’ Award and the recipients.
Maybe she turned it down at some point, but I always wondered why Lily Tomlin never hosted. Universally beloved, genuine movie star in her day, background in comedy, an Oscar nominee... Would have been fun!
I definitely don't want Mulaney to host. I don't mind Kimmel, but honestly, given how bad the Globes were this year.... Honestly, I'd be intrigued how the show would go if they went straight classy (like an Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep duo). I also don't really need a host, but the show needs to be insanely well structured for that to work.
If we're talking comic performers, I'd like to see Maya Rudolph tackle it. Or tackle her husband for not writing her a perfect role.
Arkaan - Honestly, no-host works for me. I didn't miss it when we had none, but I know a lot of folks disagree.
I would prefer a woman. I like Kimmel but we need someone new. Not Amy Schumer. She is not funny at all.
Mulaney falls into the Letterman/Kimmel group, which is extremely hit or miss.
You want someone in the Hope/Carson/Crystal/Goldberg/Jackman vein, i.e., an insider comedian or entertainer. Someone like Kristen Wiig, Keke Palmer or Kate McKinnon.
Or go with multiple hosts, which removes the burden of one person having to be great all evening. Then you can revisit Jackman and Hathaway, and take advantage of the charisma of stars like Olivia Colman, Robert Downey, Jr,, Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, even Mulaney.
They used to do the "Hot Babe" shows highlights of the nerd awards (The Sci/Tech special awards). Hot rising actress introduces brief package of a previously held ceremony that she hosted where the nerds not hot or cool enough to appear on the main stage got certificates and an occasional statute. She makes a boring joke about the technology, nothing is really learned about why they were awarded unfortunately. This was the first year I noticed they didn't have that clip package.
These are the exact reasons -- funny, cinephile-tinged, less expected -- that I think Patton Oswalt would be an amazing host.
I'd rather have a funny musical host than anything else, a la Billy Crystal. Has Kate McKinnon or Lin-Manuel Miranda ever hosted anything as a "tryout?"
And I've long wanted there to be a separate special hour-long documentary about the honorary and scientific award winners for the year. I'm sure that not many people would watch it, but you'd think PBS or even Netflix would be interested in funding something like that. It couldn't cost that much.
You know, I would love to have John Mulaney host the next Oscars or the next one after if Jimmy wants to return or if they let Ariana DeBose host seeing how she said she would love to host the Oscars one day.