Oscars

Jon Stewart to host the 78th Academy Awards telecast

Producer Gil Cates announced yesterday that Jon Stewart has been set to host the 78th Academy Awards telecast which will be held on March 5th 2006 and will be broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre by the ABC Television Network starting with 5pm PST. Host of Comedy Central's award winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, it is the first time that Stewart will host the Oscars. He was chosen after reportedly Billy Crystal turned down the chance to host for the 9th time the show due to previous engagements. Last year's show was hosted by Chris Rock while Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg hosted the show 2 and 4 times respectively in the past years. Stewart commented saying "As a performer, I’m truly honored to be hosting the show. Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can’t help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal.".

With Jon Stewart's known slyness, sarcasm and uncompromising comments, this promises to be a very interesting show.