MacFarlane's monologue was funny and biting, with Django Unchained being called the perfect Rihanna and Chris Brown date movie being one of his funniest jabs. His punchline about Jennifer Lawrence being glad that Meryl Streep wasn't nominated in her category, poking fun at the ridiculous controversy she stirred at the Golden Globes, was punctuated by a funny camera scan to the actress who laughed and put her head in her hands.
While I winced at William Shatner (at this point, who doesn't when Mr. Priceline comes on the screen), it led to some throwaway funny bits like "I Saw Your Boobs," in which MacFarlane sings a Mr. Skin song about actresses baring their bosoms in various roles. Of course, everyone, even the normally sound-minded "Huffington Post," decried the song as sexist. It was funny. Sure, he mentioned a couple of women in rape roles, but those same women picked up Oscars. So is it worse to pick up a statue for playing a rape victim or sing a song about it? It's acting. This just in--Jodie Foster and Hillary Swank were not actually raped, but their actual boobs were on display. We are such a sensitive bunch.
Still, it led to the very funny "I Saw Your Junk" featured below about actors who have dropped trou on film, so I'm happy the criticism led to something positive.
And his Flight parody with sock puppets led to the best sight gag of the night--socks in a dryer to simulate the folks in the plane being tumbled around. The Sally Field-Flying Nun bit was funny because the actress was so game and seemed to be one of many in the audience, including the usually stoic Tommy Lee Jones, who enjoyed MacFarlane's shtick.
The cherry on top of this well-executed monologue were the musical numbers. Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron need to book a dance movie stat. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe were charming as always. But the real surprise, since I know little of MacFarlane's work, was that the man can sing and toe step with the best of them.
Overall, this was one of the longest but most enjoyable monologues in Oscar history. It also did a fantastic job of introducing a ceremony that focused on the movie musical (more of that during my actual review of the show itself).
MacFarlane also kept up his presence throughout the show, even announcing upcoming presenters before throwing it to commercial. Seeing an attractive guy tell the audience who's coming up on the show, versus some voice over the loud speakers as the camera pans the crowd as the Oscars usually does, was nicely inspired.
If I had one criticism, it's that MacFarlane didn't always have perfect comic timing in his joke delivery. But he was working with very funny material, got the jokes out in a disarming way and had me completely won over in the first five minutes. Unlike Ricky Gervais in his infamous Golden Globe hosting stints, MacFarlane's delivery focused on charm versus smarm.
It's too bad that hosting the Oscars is such a thankless job, because MacFarlane got the ratings and viewer support. In most of the polls, a vast majority of viewers would like to see him back next year. And for good reason--he was actually entertaining. While he was no Fey and Poehler or Neil Patrick Harris, who won accolades for hosting less stressful awards events, he was certainly better than any Oscar host since Johnny Carson (I'm sorry Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, Chris Rock, Hugh Jackman, Jon Stewart, Anne Hathaway and James Franco).
So to all of his critics, who need to quit being so sensitive, "You all are boobs, you all are boobs, I saw the Oscar show and you all are boobs."
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