Jon Stewart to host the Academy Awards

From www.eonline.com:

Jon Stewart Tapped for Oscar Duty

by Sarah Hall
Jan 5, 2006, 8:45 AM PT


Jon Stewart is ready to get up close and personal with Oscar.

The Daily Show fake newsman has been tapped to host the 78th Academy Awards on March 5, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Thursday.

"As a performer, I'm truly honored to be hosting the show," Stewart said in a statement. "Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal."

It will be Stewart's first encounter with the pomp and circumstance surrounding the venerable Hollywood awards ceremony, though he previously served as host of the Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2002.

Stewart's designation as Oscar host comes after last year's host Chris Rock was not asked back and eight-time host Billy Crystal pleaded a packed schedule that would not allow him to prepare his usual schtick for the show.

Published reports claimed that negotiations were underway with Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg; however, nothing was ever confirmed with the Academy.

Stewart was reportedly approached shortly before Christmas and wrapped up the deal a day or two before the holiday.

The award-winning funnyman will reportedly take a week off from his Daily Show duties to prepare and will use some of the Comedy Central show's writers to assist in crafting his delivery.

Though Stewart is one of the hottest names in television, his big-screen body of work is limited, making him a somewhat unusual pick for Oscar producer Gil Cates.

Cates generally veers towards silver screen vets when it comes to selecting his host, but was swayed by his appreciation for Stewart's work on The Daily Show.

"My wife and I watch him every night," Cates said in a statement. "Jon is the epitome of a perfect host--smart, engaging, irreverent and funny."

Stewart's film experience includes screen gems such as Death to Smoochy and Big Daddy--projects that never registered on the Academy's radar, in other words.

However, in a year marked by Oscar frontrunners chock full of politically and socially charged themes, including Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Brokeback Mountain and Crash, Stewart's brand of barbed humor will likely be a good fit.

Nominations for the 78th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 31 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.