Quote Of The Night: "Bjork was not able to be here tonight. She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her." You can't really blame Jon Stewart for coming out a little flat during his first stint as Oscar host. He actually had some pretty good material throughout the show, but he never seemed able to really get comfortable with his audience. Stewart, like Chris Rock, had amassed so much stand-up comedy experience through multiple decades by the time he was asked to host the Oscars, but telling jokes in front of a bunch of wealthy Hollywood-types is a different beast altogether. There's always an air of snobbiness when it comes to the Oscars. The best hosts are the ones who can break that snobby tension. The more you come across as an outsider, the more the audience treats you like one. I think that was Jon Stewart's problem. Sure, The Daily Show was heading towards the peak of its popularity at that point, but does that mean anything to Nicole Kidman? Or Joaquin Phoenix? Probably not. But I think we expect too much from comedians when they're given the task of hosting the Oscars. Stewart's brand of comedy was not exactly a perfect fit for the Academy Awards, we should have known he would struggle the first time around. Thankfully, Stewart was solid enough to be asked back to host two years later, where he fared much better.
