The Jon Stewart Report Card
Personally, I thought he did a pretty good job, and I’m no Jon Stewart fan – but the Hollywood stuffed shirts were slow to warm to him (though they eventually did, somewhat). Andy Dehnart at MSNBC says Stewart is doomed to get the Chris Rock / David Letterman treatment:
Judging by the Kodak Theatre audience’s reception to Jon Stewart, he will find his place in Oscar hosting history alongside Chris Rock and David Letterman, both of whom were judged to be poor hosts, either for their celebrity-bashing jokes (Rock) or their immature antics (Letterman). Despite the fact that Stewart (like Rock and Letterman) did an admirable job, the audience didn’t seem to like him.
Coming back from one break, Stewart pretended to be in mid-sentence. “And that is why I think Scientology is right, not just for this city, but for the country,” he said, clearly mocking some stars’ commitment to Scientology. Hollywood sat silent.
An admitted and unashamed progressive himself, Stewart later made fun of the film industry’s perceived liberalness, telling viewers the Oscars are a chance to “see all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic party.” Our favorite stars barely chuckled.
…As Jon Stewart closed the show, he said, “I hope you had a nice night,” and the audience hesitated before clapping politely. His interaction with the theater’s crowd was going so bad that at one point, he said, in his usual self-deprecating way, “I am a loser.”
Tom Shales at the Washington Post was especially brutal:
It’s hard to believe that professional entertainers could have put together a show less entertaining than this year’s Oscars, hosted with a smug humorlessness by comic Jon Stewart, a sad and pale shadow of great hosts gone by.
…When Jack Nicholson strode out to give the Best Picture prize at the evening’s end, there was not only an ovation but a huge sigh of relief in the audience — a sense of the whole crowd saying, “Oh yes, we still have giants in the business.”
This point was made earlier as well when Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin did a masterly, breathless impression of a film by special honoree Robert Altman, replete with overlapping dialogue, half-finished thoughts and constant interruptions. This was a piece of presentation that must have taken weeks to master in rehearsal; it was a double virtuoso performance.
Oh, please…the bit was as overblown as Altman himself…pompous ‘humor’ for pompous people…memo to Shale: don’t quit your ‘daily’ job, either – you’re lucky to be employed…
Jon Stewart’s performance, like Dennis Miller’s stint on Monday Night Football, was undermined by the humor IQ of his audience.
Well said…
I agree with you pretty much across the board here. The Streep/Tomlin thing came off too self-important, at least after a couple of minutes went by and it became clear that Meryl Streep wasn’t drunk and just screwing things up.
Obviously I’m a huge Jon Stewart fan, so I loved the performance, but I think that the assessments of the audience’s reaction to him (in the articles you posted above) were exaggerated like crazy. I didn’t think they seemed particularly cold, especially since I’ve never seen that crowd being particularly warm.
I used to like Stewart quite a bit, but he did seem to do as well as anyone can be expected when they host that show. After all, this is the crowd that liked sub – par performances from humour – impaired hosts like Whoopie and Crystal. They just do tired schtick, at least Letterman, Rock and Stewart tried to be irreverent.
Still remember Letterman’s “Uma?…Oprah,” bit – that was a funny show. Naturally, they hated it.
Letterman was great! I laughed my head off…
And really, can you fault a man who dared to mock Scientology on a show where he later had to introduce John Travolta?
I really enjoy Stewart. He’s not afraid to make fun of himself – even if doing so is self-serving – and he does have a unique sense of humor. Crystal can be funny in an old, vaudevillian sort of way.
I just see the Academy Awards audience as being narcissistic and so needful of affirmation that any jokes aimed at them end up hurting their feelings or something.
As Bill Murray once said: “Lighten up Francis.”.
Reviews For Jon Stewart As Oscar Host Are Mixed (UPDATED)
The reviews are starting to come in for Jon Stewart as host of the Oscars — and
Shales wears his partisanship on his sleeve at times, so perhaps he was disappointed Stewart didn’t go for a full Bush-bashing fest? The only credit he gives him is for the one joke that made fun of Dick Cheney.
Of course, Shales also dumped on the March of the Penguins producers for bringing stuffed penguins on the stage, so maybe he just woke up feeling cranky. The whole review reads like someone who just wants a nap.
I thought Stewart was pretty good. And I’d definitely take Letterman again over another bout with Whoopi, who pretty much spent the whole time acting like Hollywood stars had never seen a black woman before and expecting laughs for that.
There was one joke Stewart made that started off with something along the lines of…”just so you know, everyone outside of Hollywood thinks that this place is basically Soddom and Gommorah…(pause)…” He then trailed off, and that was the joke.
Wish I had the exact transcript, but I laughed out loud on that one – and not a peep from the audience.
dmac, the punch line was “I don’t really have a joke here…I just thought you ought to know that a lot of people think that”…of course, George Clooney pulled a Sean Penn and took umbrage…
“the bit was as overblown as Altman himself”
Of course! That was the funny part. And as a bona fide liberal, I have to admit that I thought Stewart was out of his element. Different writers, maybe?
Oh, please, Mark. Clooney didn’t take umbrage. He took a line, inverted it, and used it to say what he wanted to say. If you’re trying to draw a Clooney-Penn parallel here, you’re really reaching.
We have differing opinions…Clooney took Stewart’s joke (incredibly funny, but bombed because it hit too close to home), and got all sanctimonious…that’s my view, yours is different…that’s the beauty of this thing called life…
I’ll admit he has a better sense of humor about it than Sean Penn, though…
True, but your average mushroom has a better sense of humor than Sean Penn.
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