I miss an Oscar’s host. I really miss Johnny Carson’s quick quips and Billy Crystal’s facial expressions which required no comment.
2018 was the last time the Oscars had a host. It was Jimmy Kummel and he was hosting his second consecutive year. The Oscars has been without a host the last three years. Ratings in 2018 were at an all-time low – or so “they” thought. Ratings for Sunday’s Oscars were down 58% from last year which was down from the year before!
Hollywood has many brilliant minds that have brought us To Keep a Mockingbird, Star Wars, and Schindler’s List. But – I am saying they are wrong about the value of a host.
THINK pre-covid times. You are invited to a home for dinner. You get there, no one lets you in, no one gives you the lay of the land, no one introduces you, no one tells you where or when the food is located, and you get my point?
Being a good host either in your home or at an event, is not easy and it is not simple.
Simply doing away with the job is not the answer.
A host is like the glue for the event. They should be the person who receives you, entertains you, thanks you, says goodnight to you. Without a host it’s just empty and like a book without a final chapter.
To host any event is work. Billy Crystal hosted 9 times and I am willing to bet he prepared for each time. Johnny Carson hosted 5 times, Jack Lemmon and Whoopi each hosted 4 times. It is work to prepare. The real value is “being in the moment”. The comment on a presenter’s dress or the Academy can be priceless. I felt a void without those comments.
In his final Oscar gig he invited everyone to sit back and enjoy the show, “since nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with golden statues.”
THAT’S WHAT I MISS.
Whether your event is the Girl Scout end of year dinner or a 500 person event, you need a host. The right host makes a difference.
