# How did Seth MacFarlane do as Oscar host? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352 "2013-02-25T15:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/81 "2013-02-26T18:23:01Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Can someone explain the Sound of Music joke? I fear I missed something. I loved the Sound of Music joke. (one of my favorite movies. I started laughing as soon as I saw the spotlight on the door) But apparently it didn’t go over well in the audience. I also laughed at the Lincoln joke and the “needs no introduction.” I don’t like his shows, but there were some good jokes out there. In all, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. There were problems with the Oscars that weren’t him (two tributes to a 10-year-old movie. A badly done Bond retrospective. Presenters not on their game. Sound and video problems for the tv audience. Letting the whole thing drag. Weird decisions about what to show and not show while listing the nominees) Some of MacFarlaine’s shtick went on too long and the timing was thrown. Some should have been cut for the sake of time. And some just wasn’t funny. But it wasn’t James Franco bad. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/82 "2013-02-26T18:35:52Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Powell Rood=Paul Rudd. Some guy at the Indie Awards kept calling him that. Who was it??? That was Andy Samberg. He KILLED it at the Film Independents on Saturday. Of course, it probably helped there was a Jameson’s Whiskey all you can drink at each table. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/83 "2013-02-26T22:25:06Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > In “Entertainment Weekly” he said that it just takes up too much time. Besides, if he’s making appearances on ABC on Sunday night, he’s competing with himself. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/84 "2013-02-27T02:06:44Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Can someone explain the Sound of Music joke? I fear I missed something. The joke is entirely dependent on a fluency with the plot of the film. The joke was a visual reference to a climactic scene in the story, so its humor is directly proportional to your familiarity with that moment. Essentially, difficult to explain and not funny when you do. “You had to be there” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/85 "2013-02-27T02:54:26Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Seth Mc. has a pleasant enough singing voice, but I don’t think it’s as wonderful as he seems to think it is. Dude- you really couldn’t have hung with the Rat Pack. FWIW he was quoted in the Entertainment Weekly profile as saying “I don’t ever see myself singing professionally. It’s a fun side gig, and that’s all.” > [@MovieMogul](#): > > Well, he was better than Letterman or Rock, but just barely, so still in the Bad column for me. Am I the only one who actually liked Letterman? > [@](#): > > And you know what hurt even more? All the presenters were pretty horrible, too. Usually, you could rely on a Will Ferrell or Jack Black or (going farther back) Steve Martin to have a really short, brilliant category intro. Last night? It was a wasteland. Now that you mention it, I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/86 "2013-02-27T03:46:45Z")
Appearing sequentially in my Google News feed not long ago: [Article](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-california-women-oscars-20130226,0,3817161.story): Seth MacFarlane criticized by female California lawmakers > [@](#): > > MacFarlane’s jokes “reduced our finest female actresses to caricatures and stereotypes, degrading women as a whole and the filmmaking industry itself,” [Article](http://www.eonline.com/news/391214/jennifer-lawrence-shows-off-side-boob-at-independent-spirit-awards): Jennifer Lawrence Shows Off Side Boob at Independent Spirit Awards :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/87 "2013-02-27T19:04:53Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I voted “bad but not terribly bad”. > > He certainly didn’t ruin the show, but I don’t think he added to the fun. Plus, I may be wrong here, but it sounded like every word out of his mouth had been practiced over and over again - no spontaneous quips or wit. > > I know other hosts in the past would have a small team of comedy writers in the back, quickly coming up with funny lines about what just happened. Commenting on tripping up the stairs? Commenting on the tie vote? > > He could have filmed every segment weeks ago and stayed at home and watched this on TV like the rest of us. > > And I agree with **lisacurl** - he was indeed tedious and smug. All of THIS. I liked the Sock puppet sketch. That’s about it. The rest were just trying too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352/88 "2013-02-27T19:06:12Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > The joke is entirely dependent on a fluency with the plot of the film. The joke was a visual reference to a climactic scene in the story, so its humor is directly proportional to your familiarity with that moment. > > Essentially, difficult to explain and not funny when you do. “You had to be there” Even if you know the musical, the joke fell flat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-seth-macfarlane-do-as-oscar-host/651352.md?page=4)