Chris To Rock The Oscars

Wow - Oscar clearly takes criticism to heart. With audience figures on a steady decline over the last few years, not to mention justified claims that the show has retreated into a stale back-slapping schmooze and snooze fest, Academy Awards producer Gil Cates has started biting back, with the news that acerbic wildfire comedian, Chris Rock, will host next year's ceremony. "I am a huge fan of Chris Rock," said Cates. "He always makes me laugh and he always has something interesting to say. Chris represents the best of the new generation of comics. Having him host the Oscars is terrific. I can't wait." Rock will become the first male African-American host of the Oscars, and potentially the most controversial. He's a world away from the cheeky conservatism of Billy Crystal or the arch surrealism of Steve Martin - and, hopefully, the unsubtle and unfunny Whoopi Goldberg. But we applaud his appointment, which could be the most inspired since David Letterman's much-maligned but woefully misunderstood stint in 1995, for which he spent the entire night ripping into the overpaid egos of the stars sitting in front of him. Rock promises to shake things up just as much. Certainly, this should put a moratorium on the musical numbers with which Crystal traditionally opened the show. When Rock hosted the MTV Video Music Awards last year, he showed that he was no respecter of tradition or reputation, verbally laying into anyone he saw fit - be they winners, nominees, hosts or even people who just happened to be in his line of sight. When he's 'on', Rock (who can be next seen onscreen in the Adam Sandler prison comedy, The Longest Yard; and heard in the CGI flick, Madagascar) can be one of the funniest comedians around - let's hope he's on when the 77th Academy Awards come around on Sunday, February 27, 2005. The Oscars won't know what hit 'em.