You take the most anticipated superstar filled event of the year and one of the funniest fellas on the planet and what do you get? The 85th annual Academy Awards.
Seth MacFarlane isn’t exactly the most recognized guy in town, for his face that is. But if you’ve ever sat down and watched an episode of Family Guy or made it to the theater to see Ted, then you know Mr. MacFarlane pretty well. Having said that, if you know Seth then you knew that this Academy Awards show would be something to remember for months to come.
From sock puppets to musical numbers with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth’s opening of show was nothing to miss. A medley of performances including a special guest appearance by Captain Kirk, and a shot at Entertainment Weekly barely made the crowd forget about the hard-hitting joke MacFarlane aimed at Chris Brown and Rihanna regarding Django Unchained:
Django is a movie where a woman is subjected to violence, or as we call it, a Chris Brown and Rihanna date movie.
As expected, Seth’s opening number was full of dancing and singing, but he was not on stage alone. Among MacFarlane and Gordon-Levitt were Charlize Theron, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Yeah, that last one was a real thing.
We Saw Your Boobs
But it wasn’t all soft shoe and show tunes. After Captain Kirk’s appearance, the audience took a “journey into the future” to watch Denzel Washington’s latest film reenacted entirely by sock puppets. Move over, Lamb Chop.
Shortly after, in another alternative timeline, Seth’s night ended with him making out with Sally Field and dressing up as the Flying Nun. This was a not-so-obvious joke to the newer generation but a reference to a sitcom spawned in the late 1960s starring Field.
It wouldn’t be a Seth MacFarlane performance if it only had one nail-biting joke, would it? MacFarlane left no one feeling safe throughout the night, taking every possible opportunity to make the jokes that make people cringe. Like this one, regarding Daniel Day-Lewis’ depiction of President Lincoln:
I would argue that the person who got most into Abraham Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth.
The two-way tie between Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall in the Sound Editing was one of the most memorable moments of the night. Not necessarily the tie as much as the award presentation by Ted, the main character of Seth MacFarlane’s debut film of the same name. Ted was accompanied by co-star Mark Walhberg onto the stage in real time. The scene left viewers at home stunned.
So from now on I believe in talking bears until someone can logically explain how that Ted scene just happened on the #oscars
— Heather Marter (@heathermarter) February 25, 2013
After a few seconds of being on stage, Ted urged the audience and Mark to let him in on the secret Hollywood sex orgies he’s heard so much about. He went on to convince Walhberg to embrace the “berg” suffix of his last name in order to convince the Hollywood bigwigs that he is of Jewish descent. Seth’s humor was obviously poking fun at all of the stereotypes that have been attached to the film industry. By the way, the orgy is at Jack Nicholson’s place if you were wondering.
This isn’t the first time MacFarlane has made a reference to the Jewish community and Hollywood. Back in 2012 his mailer to voters for the Emmy Awards included the phrase, “Come on, you bloated, overprivileged Brentwood Jews. Let us into your little club.”
But perhaps the most memorable moment was Seth’s Sound of Music gag that had heads turning.
The last time Austria and Germany got together and co-produced something it was Hitler, but this is much better.
It’s no secret that Seth is a fan of big-band style music, but no one expected him to close out the show with himself and Kristin Chenoweth singing an improvised version of Here’s to The Losers, a song on Frank Sinatra’s 1964 studio album Softly, As I Leave You. MacFarlane and Chenoweth attempted to bandage the wounds of the losing nominees but may have salted them with lines like “Bradley Cooper, get your chin off of the floor, here’s your silver lining you’ll do Hangover 4. That line and many other were sung to a tune as the credits rolled and the show went well past its predicted 11:30 p.m. end time.
If you haven’t had enough of Seth, Jamie Foxx, Channing Tatum and Robin Roberts, they’re all on Jimmy Kimmel Live after the Oscars. The opening of the Live show starts with a surprise appearance form Taylor Lautner.
What were your favorite Oscar moments?
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