ABC’s first promo featuring Oscar hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes has arrived, and from the looks of it, the trio is “already winning”—at least when compared to last year’s nonexistent host.
In the ad, the three ladies tapped to host the ceremony sit around a Nancy Meyers–esque kitchen island, each armed with an alcoholic beverage of their choice—red wine for Hall and Sykes, a martini for Schumer—as breezy bossanova music plays in the background. “So ladies, are you ready to host the Oscars?” asks an excited Schumer. “We just have to do better than last year’s host,” says Sykes, matter-of-factly. “That’s the thing. It is a competition in that way,” Schumer responds.
Sykes then realizes that she’s having trouble remembering who, in fact, hosted last year’s Oscar ceremony. “Bet they got canceled,” she says, while Schumer calls the forgotten host “trash.” “Oh wait,” Hall interrupts. “There wasn’t a host last year. Or the year before. Or the year before.” “Boom,” chimes in Sykes. “We’re already winning.” “We’re nailing it,” agrees Schumer as Hall stretches out her palms toward her cohosts and asks them to “give it to me.”
The 2022 Oscars are indeed following a three-year drought of Oscar hosts, with ever-declining ratings leading to the lowest of all time just last year—though, to be fair to last year’s Oscar producer, Steven Soderbergh, that ceremony had the added misfortune of falling during the peak of the pandemic. While the odds may be stacked against this year’s telecast producer, Will Packer, he shrewdly tapped Hall, Schumer, and Sykes, three veterans of the industry who are each experts in the only field that really matters for an Oscar host: making people laugh. Given their easy breeziness and the parity of the punch lines in the promo, we might be in store for an Oscar ceremony renaissance when this year’s Academy Awards air Sunday, March 27. I’ll drink to that.
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