Fansided

The no-host 2019 Oscars, explained

By Shea Corrigan

Oscar statue watches over the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel on February 4, 2019 in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Oscar statue watches over the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel on February 4, 2019 in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Once a gig any comedian would dream of, hosting the Academy Awards has become the toughest job in Hollywood. Here’s why.

Some all-time great award show hosts have earned their bona fides at the Academy Awards. A truly sharp and entertaining monologue can set the tone for the three-hour show and an effective host will keep the proceedings moving as swiftly as possible. The role of Oscar host allows a great performer to shine, even opening new doors to career opportunities.

This year, though, no one wants the job. The 2019 Academy Awards will be host-less, for the first time since the disastrous 1989 Oscars that ruined produced Alan Carr’s career. The Academy’s pick, Kevin Hart, stepped down when he was asked (and refused) to apologize for old homophobic tweets. Amidst rumors about who said and wanted what, the Academy eventually announced no one would host the entertainment industry’s highest profile award show. Because again: No one wants what is now widely regarded as the toughest job in Hollywood.

Richard Roeper, film critic and host of HDNET Movies, a channel dedicated to playing Oscar-winning films 24/7 from Feb. 1-24, offered some explanation when he stopped by the FanSided studio.

“I talked to some people who could legitimately have been considered to host the Oscars and everyone I talked to off-the-record is like why would I do it? What’s in it for me? There’s no upside to it at this point,” Roeper explained to FanSided’s Mark Carman. “It’s about a three-month process. In other words, as the host, you assemble a team of joke writers, you start working on your routines, then you have to adapt to who got nominated, then you have to decide who is going to be on the show. You have to figure all that out and then there are rehearsals and they don’t really pay a lot of money. So yeah, exposure — do you need it? And then there’s all this pressure, if you say one thing that can be misconstrued… So the downside… Yeah, it used to be the greatest gig in the world.”

This shift is, in part, a reflection of bigger problems with the Academy. Despite the addition of a diverse collection of new members, the Academy still struggles with representation in its nominations. At the same time, a panic over ratings have led to bad decisions driven by a desire to appeal to the largest common denominator at the risk of alienating the award show’s historic viewership and fanbase. The hosts the Academy wants, people like Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres or even Tom Hanks who are unimpeachably popular (and innocuous), have nothing to gain from taking the job. The hosts that could actually offer an interesting show — say, Tiffany Haddish or Awkwafina — are not considered to have broad enough appeal.

So: No host. And unless the Academy gets their act together, they’re going to have trouble filling the job for the indefinite future.

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