Entertainment Weekly is reporting there may be a new host for the 2009 Oscars and his name may be Ricky Gervais. The site says that after Gervais’s fantastic appearance at the Emmy’s (video below) his reps were besieged with inquiries about his availability and were urged to book a meeting with Academy Awards organizers.
The only problem I see with the Gervais choice is the fact that the majority of Americans don’t seem to like/get his humor. Ghost Town, despite being one of the funniest films of the year, suffered a miserable opening weekend. Gervais’s “The Office” inspired Steve Carell’s US spin-off but is pretty much unknown to American audiences. This leads me to believe Gervais would destroy at the Oscars, but the moment would be lost on an American audience, which would result in many calling it a failure.
Then again, if the Academy would just nominate The Dark Knight for Best Picture they would get millions of fanboys tuning in to watch and their numbers would sky rocket.
For now, watch Gervais at the Emmy’s below and see if you laugh, I think it’s hilarious.
