After three hostless years that saw a precipitous drop in ratings, the Academy Awards returned on Sunday night with not one but three hosts. After an exuberant opening performance by Beyoncé, who was introduced by Venus and Serena Williams, Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes took the stage together at the top of the show
Schumer, who may or may not have been joking about wanting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to beam into the ceremony via satellite, staked her claim early as the night’s “edgiest” host, joking, “This year, the Academy hired three women to host, because it’s cheaper than hiring one man.”
And while Hall and Sykes said they were excited to be “representing Black women who are standing proud” and “living out loud,” Schumer added, “And I am representing unbearable white women who call the cops when you get a little too loud.”
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During a recent conversation for this week’s episode of The Last Laugh podcast, director Judd Apatow described his Trainwreck star as a “legendary comedian with something I don’t have called charisma.” And while Schumer can certainly be divisive, she was able to deliver some undeniably hard jokes at the expense of the Hollywood crowd, especially when she returned for her own solo monologue before the first awards were handed out.
“I’m Amy Schumer—or as they know me in Hollywood, ‘Melissa McCarthy said no,’” the comedian said. But after a few more self-deprecating jokes she turned her attention to some of the most powerful celebrities in the room.
“After years of Hollywood ignoring women’s stories, this year we finally got a movie about the incredible Williams sisters’... dad,” she joked.
On Adam McKay’s Best Picture-nominated Don’t Look Up, she added, “I guess the Academy members don’t look up reviews.”
Then, after a quick dig at her good friend Jennifer Lawrence, Schumer highlighted the work of her co-star in that film, Leonardo DiCaprio. “What can I even say about him?” she asked. “He’s done so much to fight climate change and leave behind a cleaner, greener planet for his girlfriends. Because he’s older. And they’re younger. OK, you get it.”
And on Being the Ricardos, Schumer praised writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s “innovation to make a movie about Lucille Ball without even a moment that’s funny,” adding, “It’s like making a biopic about Michael Jordan and just showing the bus trips between games.”
The only movie she didn’t have anything negative to say about was Best Picture hopeful CODA, finishing the bit by telling the audience, “My plan for tonight is to be present as hell… until I black out.”
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