In honor of Eddie Murphy's Oscar hosting gig this coming spring, Steve Martin has penned "An Open Letter to Eddie Murphy," a letter filled to the brim with helpful hints based on his turn as host in 2001, 2003 and 2010. Regrets? Steve Martin has a few. Then again, they all seem to be Alec Baldwin related.
According to statements he made to a crowd last Friday, Billy Crystal wants to host the Oscars for the ninth time next year, a desire that may or may not be connected to seeing James Franco lumber on stage as a sad, beefy Marilyn Monroe. “They had called and said would you do this thing and honor Bob Hope and that was a kind of cool thing to do,” Crystal said about his cameo at this year's show. “I said okay. I did it, and people wanted to see me, they stood up, and I couldn’t talk for about a minute [while waiting for the ovation to subside]. And, um, I [...]
Norm Macdonald said yesterday on the Dennis Miller Radio Show that he'd happily write jokes for Eddie Murphy's Oscar hosting gig. His vote of confidence is pretty convincing: "Eddie’s become a little zen-like… He’s stepped back a little from the 'crazy Eddie' of old. I think this is going to burst him back to the 'incredibly funny Eddie Murphy,' and I can’t wait to see him.” Let's hope the "Eddie Murphy camp" takes Norm up on his offer.
There have been a lot of funny moments in Oscar history — like when Rob Lowe sang a duet with Snow White in 1989, and when How Green Was My Valley beat Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon for Best Picture in 1941. But both of those are unintentionally funny, and have nothing directly to do with comedy, a common theme for the Oscars. No straight-up comedy has ever been nominated for Best Picture (for instance, Juno and Forrest Gump have funny moments, but they’re not exactly Blazing Saddles), but there have been some that at least received a nomination. Here are the 10 funniest:
Seeing as how four of his last six acting gigs involved him portraying a cartoon donkey, the idea of Eddie Murphy hosting the Oscars in 2012 makes me want to flap my hands in raw geek excitement. According to Deadline, Oscars' producer Brett Ratner is submitting Murphy's name to the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences today as his choice of host. Luckily for everyone who sat through this year's Franco-thon, Murphy is reportedly "showing interest." Granted, Eddie may be the frontrunner in part because he's starring in Ratner's Tower Heist this fall, but really, the fact that Murphy isn't onstage/in front of a live audience all [...]
