--- title: Oscars 2014: Hosts | TIME description: Michelle Tan from People and Mark Halperin and James Poniewozik from TIME compare Ellen to past Oscar hosts. canonical: https://time.com/video/rJnyZGVq/ og:title: Oscars 2014: Hosts og:description: Michelle Tan from People and Mark Halperin and James Poniewozik from TIME compare Ellen to past Oscar hosts. og:url: https://time.com/video/rJnyZGVq/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rJnyZGVq/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oscars 2014: Hosts twitter:description: Michelle Tan from People and Mark Halperin and James Poniewozik from TIME compare Ellen to past Oscar hosts. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rJnyZGVq/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Oscars 2014: Hosts > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Oscars 2014: Hosts [Watch (HLS stream): Oscars 2014: Hosts](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rJnyZGVq.m3u8) (5:41)  _Published 2014-02-27. Michelle Tan from People and Mark Halperin and James Poniewozik from TIME compare Ellen to past Oscar hosts._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:15 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Highlights From the 2014 Oscars](/video/quRVjyn1/) ### Highlights From the 2014 Oscars [Oscars 2014: Best Picture](/video/dt48KffM/) ### Oscars 2014: Best Picture [Oscars 2014: And The Nominees Are...](/video/FqH1tECd/) ### Oscars 2014: And The Nominees Are... --- ## Transcript >> I'm Mark Halperin. We're counting down the Oscars here in New York with my colleague, James Poniewozik of TIME, and Michelle Tan of People. All right, we're talking about hosts as we count down here. Ellen DeGeneres getting her second chance to host. Tell me briefly first what makes a good Oscar host really. >> Well, what makes a great Oscar host is somebody who makes everybody feel comfortable not only in the audience, but also at home. >> You know, I think a host is kind of in your face they have to be half in the world with the audience and half the world of the celebrities and I think when that balance gets thrown off too much one way or the other, if they're too much inside the room, if they're too much of the outsider, it's gonna be uncomfortable on one side of the equation or the other. >> Right. This is Ellen's second time hosting. Let's take a look from her first time in 2007. Look at that. >> I think most people dream of winning an Academy Award. I had a dream of actually hosting the Academy Awards. And so, let that be a lesson to you kids out there. Aim lower. >> All right, likeable, funny. Is she a bigger star than she was when she did it last time? -[ unk ] I mean she had been a daytime star for a while then, you know, at that time, but that's kind of the post that's perfect to come in and host the Oscars from because she is both somebody who is a friend of celebrities and is kind of America's best friend who people are-- you know, are staying out with. So, it kind of makes her the sort of universal Oscar date. >> My view is she's not gonna fail. She's just so well liked. She does good stuff. She'll be fine, but she's also not gonna be a huge home run. That seem right? Well, I mean, I think that she's not going to be spectacular or really surprising, but I mean, you know ,-- >> Right. >> looking at some of Oscar's history, you know, Seth MacFarlane was a very surprising host and, you know, not necessarily in ways that worked fantastically. >> Right. >> I'm a huge fan. I think she's gonna do incredibly well and people love her. >> Right. I know. Let's look at some of the past ones. You mentioned Seth MacFarlane. Hosted last year. A surprised choice. >> Yeah. >> A controversial choice. Let's look at one of his more controversial moments. >> We saw your boobs. In the movie that we saw we saw your boobs. Meryl Streep, we saw your boobs in Silkwood, Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive. Angelina Jolie, we saw your boobs in Gia. They made us feel excited and alive. >> Now, often the cut aways in the Oscars are fake and staged. That, Naomi Watts, pure real, right? She was as horrified as many viewers. It at least felt very real, but it was just extremely uncomfortable all around, you know. >> It seems like the choice of Ellen in part-- great choice for a lot of reasons as you guys have said. It seems like in part with their going for somebody who is not going to offend anybody who is a safe and well- like choice. >> Right. A kinder, gentler-- >> Yeah. >> Oscar host and that Seth MacFarlane joke really you got it at first, but it was just really the boob joke that went on way too long. >> Right. All right, I wanna talk about another host who some people thought was for many years the model. Billy Crystal has done it 9 times. They brought him back a couple years ago after Eddie Murphy had to pull out. I wanna look at a clip of that and then talk about the pros and cons of somebody like Crystal. >> Now, here's something that we love to do. This is a pressure- packed night for a lot of you and the nominees are sitting in the audience and people are wondering, what are they thinking? Now, I have had this gift since I first started hosting this show that I can look in anyone's eyes and I know exactly what they're thinking. So, watch the screen and I'll tell you what's on their mind. This better not go too late. I have six parent- teacher conferences in the morning. >> Some people say after that night, ninth time was not the charm. He wasn't all that good. I think in my career as a viewer of the Oscars, he has been one of the best host. The musical numbers he's done have been iconic and memorable and all that. >> Do you think people like-- the viewers like having somebody around for a long time kind of the perineal Oscar host or does he get tired? >> Absolutely. I feel like he's like your favorite uncle who you love to hang out with. You know you're gonna have a great time. He's gonna share some fun stories and it's quality time well spent. >> The funny thing is that used to be what the Oscars do, be in a Bob Hope year after year after year-- >> Right. >> after year. You know, I think the thing with Billy Crystal is that, you know, he had a thing down and I think maybe when he came back several years later it just-- it kind of looked like shtick, maybe not even through a fault of his own, but it kind of played that way. >> Right. So now, I wrote some names out if you can. Put you on the spot. Who is somebody, a name or two of people who've never done it and you'd like to see do it? >> Oh gosh. You know, I'd love to see Steven Colbert and he would probably absolutely bomb, but I would personally enjoy it very much. >> Okay. >> Michelle, anybody? >> I actually was just gonna say that as well. I mean his skits on his show were so fantastic. He would be really fun. >> All right, now, [ unk ] by looking at what is considered, I think, probably the worst choice of host ever, the joint pairing in 2011 of James Franco and Anne Hathaway. >> Anne, I must say you look so beautiful and so hip. >> Oh, thank you, James. >> Yeah. >> You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Now, that pairing came about in part-- they're joking about it-- because of the obsession the academy has to appeal to younger demographic to keep the ratings up not just overall, but amongst the valued young demo. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Does Ellen do that? Does Ellen appeal to younger people? >> I don't necessarily know that her appeal is as young as, you know, say, Seth MacFarlane. >> Right. >> But it's gotta work on camera too, you know. >> Right. >> So, you know, maybe Ellen doesn't go quite as young, but maybe she also doesn't have as many people like actively changing the channel. >> Right. >> People readers like Ellen? >> People readers love Ellen. >> Yeah. >> We just put her on the cover and they really appreciated the way that she was really reflecting about her life and I think that's really what comes across not only in her jokes in her daytime show, but really people will find appealing to her about her in her show. >> James, Michelle, thank you both. You can of course read about the Oscars all the way up through Sunday night's telecast on both people. com and time. com. I'm Mark Halperin in New York. 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