Is it just me, or were there several moments in Martin’s monologue last night that went flat? Most memorable was the line about actors who shoot their wives. The bit about “actresses who have slept with me” would have been an OK 5-second joke but went on and on and on. I have liked the guy for years (going back to his appearances on the Smothers Brothers!) but he went beyond edgy and ventured into bad taste a few times. Am I alone?
Not every line can be a home run, but his batting average was much higher than Whoopi & Billy. His timing was great and he never felt the need to oversell the joke. He also didn’t make lots of time references the later things went (just one at the end, IIRC). I think the ones that worked the least were ones that were a bit risky in targeting specific people (Robert Blake, J. Lo & double-sided tape, Nick Nolte’s photo), but some others worked really well (Sean Connery & Red Lobster, Michael Moore’s limo, Kathy Bates’ hot tub, Jack Nicholson is gay) and the Actress one you mentioned worked fine because of the reaction shots. YMMV.
“Several” flat moments? Yes. That’s almost inevitable. In a 3 and a half hour show, there are bound to be jokes that just don’t work. But on the whole, I think Steve was hilarious. He’s definitely the best host the Oscars have had in recent memory.
I completely agree with astorian. Steve Martin’s delivery was almost uniformly perfect.
“When I heard that Richard Gere didn’t get nominated for his great performance in Chicago, I thought to myself…‘Welcome to my world, Richard Gere.’”
Hee.
I’ve got to take the other side. I thought Martin had a few jokes that worked and many that just died. I was especially surprised at his cheap banter about every female who presented. Was he channeling Bob Hope in honor of his 100th birthday?
“You know, hosting the Oscars for the second time is like making love to a woman the second time…I guess.”
I thought he did a great job. At least he ain’t Billy Crystal.
Ya win some ya lose some. Do you think they should’ve had this guy:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800014129&cf=pg&photoid=449385&intl=us
What was the deal with someone throwing a phone at him? That was planned??
Apparently a stagehand accidentally dropped his cell phone.
“Old or young, straight or gay, thin or …”
“…Democrat or…skinny”.
“I wasn’t here last year because I – how can I say it? – wasn’t asked.”
Who did host last year? I can’t even remember.
Whoopi “Center Square” Goldberg, I do believe.
I thought he totally died two years ago. While there were a few moments that fell flat, this time around was much better than the last, and also better than Crystal’s last couple outings. (Goldberg was enjoyable only because she kept saying “Shit” all the time.)
As to the lechery of the thing – that’s his material. I mean, he’s no Richard Pryor, but his stand-up always had some pretty blue inneundo. It’s just easy to forget because he hasn’t done any stand-up in 20 years.
–Cliffy
I thought he was great. A few lines that missed, maybe, but overall I thought the gags and his delivery were top notch. I happened to like what Michael Moore did and said, but Martin’s line afterwards about the teamsters and the trunk of his car was perfect. It really helped to re-unite the crowd and restore some balance to the proceedings.
It all comes down to what works. Saying that Halle Barry’s win opened doors in Hollywood for incredibly hot-looking women was a perfect bit of satire on Hollywood values.
Saying he was backstage with Jennifer Lopez trying to convince her that the best way to take off double stick tape was with saliva just made the whole audience wince.
I thought he was fine. He had some pretty dang funny moments. (I thought the Nick Nolte thing was funny…)
“It was so sweet… backstage just now… the Teamsters were just showing Michael Moore into the trunk of his Limo.”
Can someone explain this joke to me? I just don’t get what doublestick tape means? Does it mean she is taped up like a supermodel to fit into her clothes? One thing I will say was funny was Ben Affleck’s look when J-Lo looked at him after the joke. He just raised one eyebrow as if to say, “eh, whatever, it’s all in good spirit.”