There’s talk that Alec Baldwin is in talks to host a late night talk show on NBC at 1:35 a.m., as Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daley move up to earlier slots. Meanwhile Baldwin talks to THR about hosting the Oscars, a job he claims he’ll never never never do again. Suits me fine. Some days I can handle hearing Alec Baldwin talk like he’s got it all figured out but today is not one of those days. The only good thing about 30 Rock ending, for me, is the warm feeling I get knowing Alec Baldwin can’t win any more trophies for 30 Rock. In fact, I hope he takes the late late talk show gig so I’ll have a good reason to get an extra half hour of sleep ever night. I do like his thoughts here about the Oscars. He says this is “going to be one of the last interviews I ever do” which would be bittersweet if it wasn’t bullshit.
THR: You co-hosted the Oscars in 2010 with Steve Martin. What did you think of the reaction to Seth MacFarlane’s performance?
Baldwin: The Oscars is a completely thankless job. It’s really tough.
THR: So you wouldn’t do it again?
Baldwin: No. Never, never, never. And I enjoyed doing it. What the Oscars absolutely, unequivocally should be is a show with a little bit of entertainment and a very reverential overview of movies of that year. And that show would last about two hours, and it would be a very tight show with a lot of serious, cineastic appreciation. But the Oscars is also a television program that raises 90 percent of the Academy’s budget for the year in a single night. When the Oscars is three hours — when they bullshit you and say that the Oscars is running long, and that’s a problem — that’s not a problem. They’re making more money. So ABC and the Academy, they have no interest in doing a tight, better-produced show. They are forced, because of economic constraints, to have a flabby, tired show.
THR: And everyone who does it gets raked over the coals.
Baldwin: They need to gamble on the show, and they’re not gambling. I am a member of the Academy, but everyone who has done it lately has been crucified. So they’re not going to get anybody who is reasonably talented or special to take that chance anymore. They don’t pay you any money; the Oscars pay you like chicken feed. It’s all about the honor of helping to extol film achievement. But they’re going to have a tough time. I’m dying to see who they get to do it next year. They’re going to have to go dig someone up from a cemetery. They’re going to have to go dig up Bob Hope.
THR: Is there a living person you think would be good at it?
Baldwin: Ellen DeGeneres. She would work. Everybody likes her, and she can be edgy without being too edgy.
isn’t he eligible for this year’s emmys as well?
that wasn’t Streep’s husband by her…but he LOOKED like her. must be her brother.
No matter who hosts, the format never satisfies. What about ditching the host and the necessarily mediocre strandup schtick for something a little more updated?
Perhaps open with a big compilation of the year in film – and not just the nominees; then hit the categories showing suitable clips (maybe with voiceover description in the techies) for each. A recognizable name walks out and hands out the award.
Would anyone seriously miss the “ringmaster” and song ‘n dance bits, or would we prefer to focus on the business at hand?
Who knows, maybe added focus on the categories would eventually improve the results. Bandwagon voting is harder to justify if the viewers are more educated on what the categories actually represent. We all know the difference between a rumba and a tango thanks to TV, why not learn something about visual storytelling?
I know – TV ratings. Well, nobody watches the damn thing anymore, especially network TV, so make the >3hrs worthwhile.
As for his last answer, I personally agree with him 100% Ellen is “edgy without being too edgy”, she has a great track record (hosted Emmys twice, Academy Awards once, got very good reviews on all occasions), and is very good for rratings. Besides, it’s never too soon to start plugging Finding Dory.
So far we can rule out Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ricky Gervais, and Seth McFarlane. In a few months we’ll start speculating again, as we always do, and bring up – as usual – Billy Crystal, Justin Timberlake, Neil Patrick Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jimmy Fallon, and Hugh Jackman. I’d prefer an Ellen encore, but this time with a much tighter production (2 hours is way out of reach, but 2006’s 3 hours 51 minutes was a bit… much).
Thanks for embedding, Ryan.
They both were the perfect *good/very good so do I mean* host couple. And doubtless they had great chemistry.
People in the hall apparently felt comfortable identifying with both of them, laughing wIth the two; they both in turn looked as if they were really having a good time hosting the show. I’d watched it on TV and even now I still think they were doing a great job — […] really enjoyed every minute of it.
Plus, for good measure, [here on this clip at 1:39] the Meryl Streep’s “most losses” gag, as well as, let’s say, that double entendre at 3:34 and the audacious joke about Waltz’s character’s obsession about finding […], would have been epic-fail had it been delivered by Seth MacFarlane [he’s all right but for some reason couldn’t create chemistry), in my opinion.
I hope they will get together and do it all over again (for the Oscar).
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(Sidenote: Kudos to all the three — Ryan, Sasha, and Craig Kennedy — for Roger Ebert Tribute podcast.)
I think Baldwin is spot-on about the show and how it should be, rather than how it actually is.
I liked them both as hosts that year
I sometimes still watch the opening monologue on YouTube
I also liked how the acting nominees walked out arm-in-arm, too
He and Steve Martin were so good when they hosted the Oscars. I don’t think they got enough praise. I’ve been laughing at “Damn Helen Mirren” ever since!
He was great. Actually I think he’s still somewhat underrated as an actor.
Fine fine. For my next trick, I’ll diss Bob Hope.
He only won two Emmys. Now SAGs are another story. Personal life aside, he’s one of the funniest men on TV.
I know, I know, I’m an awful person for thinking the same thing Alec Baldwin says: He’s been lucky.
I’ll change ‘Emmys’ to ‘trophies’ in the post, Kane. I’m just tired of the same schtick — that whole “I’m unaware that I’m acting like a dick” schtick. Nobody but Colbert can do that week after week and not wear me out. I’m an awful person.
True, some things do get old. Colbert does not. As much as I love Baldwin on in a few roles, I cannot see him as a late night host. He’s got energy but it’s more deadpan and brilliant deadpan at that. He’d be like a slightly more uppity Larry Sanders in delivery. These dudes need almost manic energy at times a la Stewart or Colbert, even Ferguson.