Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to Host Oscars

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 3rd, 2009

And the Oscar host goes to… Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  The two funny actors will take the stage at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards on March 7, 2010.

The announcement comes just a few days after Hugh Jackman said he wasn’t interested in returning.  This morning there was news that Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller were approached to host as a duo, but they declined.

Martin hosted the telecast in 2001 and 2003.  Baldwin has never hosted an awards ceremony, but he did headline “Saturday Night Live” 14 times.  The two recently worked together in this December’s It’s Complicated, a romantic comedy also starring Meryl Streep.

“We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” new show producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic said in a statement.  I couldn’t agree more.  It’ll take two hosts to handle the 10 “Best Picture” nominations, a new change to the category this year, and they’re great choices.

While Martin has embarrassed himself on screen lately, he’s still genuinely hilarious.  He presented “Best Original Screenplay” last year with Tina Fey and they got probably the biggest laughs of the night.  Then there’s Baldwin, who proves every week on “30 Rock” that he can hold his own and with precise comedic timing.

The best part is there is less likely to be a song and dance number with these two, an improvement over Jackman’s Broadway-style performance.  Unfortunately this also means Martin might play the banjo instead.