Jon Stewart's Return to The Oscars

In 2006, when Jon Stewart first agreed to emcee the prestigious ceremony known as the Academy Awards, his performance left critics less than satisfied, as they blamed the host of The Daily Show for the meager 39 million that tuned in that night, one of the lowest viewerships in 20 years. Yet despite what happened two years ago, Stewart has once again been asked (and once again agreed) to host the Oscars on February 24, leaving many confused as to why he would so eagerly return. His decision to host the show once again certainly has nothing to do with the payoff. Oscar and Emmy hosts rarely get paid more than $15,000, excluding fees for their writing staff. And it can't be the exposure that the emcee gets to a global audience either; following Stewart's hosting job in 2006, there was no significant change in ratings for The Daily Show.

Perhaps in order to understand Jon Stewart's position, one must first understand the history of emceeing the Oscars. Nowadays, it's rare to see any one celebrity ever host the show more than once, maybe twice. In the not-so-distant past, however, former hosts Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, and Johnny Carson have played emcee to the show a combined total of over thirty times. That was, of course, when hosting the show was still a respectable act and a prestigious gig. Today, the downward-spiraling ratings, pressure from the FCC, the advent of the Internet, and an annoying Academy pattern of nominating only art-house instead of blockbuster films have all contributed to making the job one of the most thankless in Hollywood.

In 2006, Stewart was criticized by viewers of The Daily Show for "sheathing" his political sword, for not being nearly as edgy and engaging at the Oscars as he normally is with his Comedy Central program. Even if Stewart had pleased the masses, the real audience of the Oscars, the Hollywood celebrities, would rather see a short and harmless appearance by the host and a quick skip to what they're really there for - to accept (or not) their awards. The Oscars have also been known for their gag flops, ending in devastatingly embarrassing moments for the hosts (see Whoopi Goldberg in 1996 and Chris Rock in 2005). Perhaps the most memorable of these gaffes was the 1959 show, during which host Jerry Lewis was forced to fill 20 minutes of screen time after the show had ended too early. His impromptu solution? Forcing members of the audience to get up on stage and flaunt their lack of singing and dancing abilities until the show finally came to a close.

As for the low ratings, the hosts are more often than not the ones that end up being blamed, even though what really determines the ratings are what films and stars happen to be nominated that year, and not who happens to be on stage to open the show. The job of hosting has become so complicated and thankless that many awards shows, such as the Golden Globes, simply do without one. Nevertheless, on February 24, 2008, Jon Stewart will once again serve as the host for the Academy Awards, and it probably does have nothing to do with useless exposure or a negligible payoff. Rather, the thing that keeps bringing people back to the Oscars is probably the sense of pride that comes with being the Master of Ceremonies of the oldest and most prestigious awards show in history. Being the host of the Academy Awards means being in the same company as Hollywood greats like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope. It may be a thankless job, but it's also a "badge of honor" that even Jon Stewart would be crazy to turn down.