wonderful. hey i have a question, since i don't watch TV anymore, just clips on the internet, i don't know if this is true - is jon stewart getting a prime time show? i hope it's true. anyone know? thanks.

"How will we know it's the future?"

Ha!

OK, forget Bill, Jon is a master. But why don't you have any funny conclusion at the end of the Ceremony. Just a "goodbye and take care"... A bit short no?

Ugh...groan...ohhh.

Well, I've been out of work for 3 months before, and I know it takes a little time to get your groove back on. But some of these jokes were stuff you'd expect to hear from old Uncle Harold the used car salesman at a cocktail party. Later in the evening, Stewart had to introduce Harrison Ford with this gem: "he's either a great actor or a car dealership."

some of these jokes were stuff you'd expect to hear from old Uncle Harold the used car salesman at a cocktail party.

Yes, but the material had to run through the tolerance police, I'm sure. The Iraq allusion was funny, but the audience was subdued with their reaction. It wasn't quite as bad as it would have been had we a 'Magisterium' to contend with, but something was holding the audience back.

weak stuff. Even for the tolerance police, it was still mostly chuckle worthy, at best.

Thank god I didn't watch this event.

Anyone else out there think that the oscars are a complete farce? Not going to deny that lots of times the best stuff does win, however, we all know that it can be very partisan.

Actors, directors, etc. don't get nominated because someone doesn't like their views on beer or how they presented them.

Movies that get released early in the year get completely ignored and/or forgotten (Zodiac comes to mind for this year).

It is all so pathetically political. We have to see so much political bs in our daily lives, why do so many of us want to sit and watch a show about entertainment that is just as politicized?

A bit disappointing, in that these jokes are recycled.

I mean, voting for a Democrat, that was a remix from last time he hosted the Oscars.

And the thing with Barack's name was a joke Stewart explored in the early to middle parts of 2007.

Spoofing McCain is alright, but it's a device that Stewart uses with some regularity.

I guess it's like Stewart's statement when accepted the invitation to host the Oscars for 2008: "the third time's the charm."

He is not the star of this event. The actors and winners are. I liked this better than the last 3 that I've watched because it wasn't like "hey look at me! I'm hosting!" all the time. The focus was where it should be, on the speeches. Another job well done John.

I didn't think he was quite as funny as I might have hoped, but he certainly ran the show well, and was funny enough. His bringing the Once woman back out onto the stage to give her short speech after she'd left was one of the smartest, classiest things I can recall a host doing.

Is Stewart really a unique comic talent or does he just excel at assured sarcasm to the point where you don't notice?

Well, he obviously can't do his usual stuff at the Oscars, but this was closer than his first appearance. Poolaka, if by tolerance police you were referring to the black or woman president joke I'm pretty sure that he's referencing some disaster and (most conspicuously) fantasy movies in which the president is always of a minority. By the way, what movie was he referencing, anyone knows? I know Morgan Freeman was the president in one, and I know 24 (the TV show).

By the way, if you wanna see great Oscar comedy, did you watch the Jimmy Kimmel show afterwards? Ben Affleck and Jimmy had a hilarious surprise. For better comedic impact, watch these in order:

1

2

3

4

The Oscar finale.

Oh, and Poolaka, of course what you say it's true. The Oscars aren't the best indicator for quality as other awards (in the US, of the big awards, the Golden Globes come to mind). The nominations are usually good movies though.

I thought Zodiac was a brilliant movie, but as Scorsese once said, that maybe his movies didn't have "Oscar" content. I think Fincher is pretty much the same. To illustrate more, I don't like Spielberg particularly as a director (I do love the I. Jones movies though - guilty pleasure) but he's the perfect Oscar filmmaker if there ever was one. I kind of thought better of Scorsese when the Oscars always seemed to elude him. I saw that as a badge of honor, rather than being not good enough (which I don't think anyone imagined anyway).

jakash,

I didn't see the show, can you tell me more about the Once woman being brought back on stage?

The Kimmel clip was funny, but it's so annoying that he and Silverman were bleeped. Does anyone know if there are uncensored versions of those videos anywhere?

Ohhh...nothing really great except for the How will we know it's the future part but --- it's Jon and he's always great to see. There isn't enough of him out there...

Does anyone know if there are uncensored versions of those videos anywhere?

Ha, that's a good one!

You were kidding, right? You'll pry the American network TV bleeps out of their cold, dead hands.

Sarcasm aside, I also get very annoyed when the Daily Show is bleeped.

And of course, it's not like everyone doesn't know what words they're saying... There's something particularly sick about this kind of outmoded "token" censorship: it's like the stumbling zombified corpses of those primitive, knee-jerk, anal-retentive worldviews that refuse to die.

It also represents the timeless problem of Old Farts trying to Ruin Our Fun.

I think that those videos were engineered specifically taking in mind the censorship, that's why there are so many bleeps. Just hearing "fucking" so many times kinda just wears out, while so much bleeping in network TV is kinda funny, especially coming from Harrison Ford and that guy who sings like an opera singer. My personal favorite, though through the whole Matt Damon saga, is the Bourne Ultimatum one.

Kimmel himself has a hilarious bit you should really check out, called This Week in Unnecessary Censorship, that he does every Friday. Trying to "help" the FCC, they "bleep and blur clips whether they need it or not" resulting in sheer hilarity. Look up "unnecessary censorship" on youtube.

"Look up "unnecessary censorship" on youtube."

Thanks for that -- pretty funny!

Robinson,

A song from Once won the Oscar for best song. When they went up to receive the award, the guy gave the acceptance speech. When he was done, the girl stepped to the mic to say thanks, but the music started and they walked off. Later, Jon interrupted the show to bring her back out and she gave a nice, short speech. Apparently, nobody has ever been brought back out like that. It's on YouTube. Being technologically incompetent, I don't actually know how to post it with this comment, but here's the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5pPe-1CBgng

"it's like the stumbling zombified corpses of those primitive, knee-jerk, anal-retentive worldviews that refuse to die."

Now you are hitting very close to home, where the he-art is. "Old arts trying to Ruin Our..."

William Fart Buckley, and his Brandenburg Concerti too...good riddance!