Amy Schumer, the only American comedian capable of filling the imposing Madison Square Garden in New York, will be one of those responsible for returning the figure of the master of ceremonies to the Oscars, after three consecutive years without a presenter.
“I’m pretty scared,” admitted the comedian, recognized for her irreverent and natural style, in an interview.
In this edition, the driving role will be tripled and in a feminine key, since Amy Schumer will be joined by Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes, all of them with the task of taking the reins of a ceremony whose declining audience is beginning to seriously worry the Academy of Hollywood.
Last year’s gala, decaffeinated by the pandemic, brought together 10 million live viewers. It was its all-time low, a drop of almost 60% from the previous year.
Once it became clear that the idea of doing without presenters did not increase the attractiveness of the ceremony, the Oscars have focused on the talent of three women to present a gala that, between the return after the pandemic and its losing streak in the audience, seems the most decisive in years.
“I think women are getting more power in this industry, to be able to run or create shows when they haven’t been able to for a long time,” Amy Schumer herself analyzed.
WOMEN, ALSO IN THE MINORITY TO PRESENT THE OSCARS
The Oscar statuette is a male figure as most of its presenters have been throughout its 94 history editions.
For example, in the last twenty years, there have only been three presenters, Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres, and Anne Hathaway, the latter with James Franco.
This year’s trio will try to correct this imbalance with a script that, Schumer, could not anticipate absolutely anything, but that will undoubtedly bring a new nuance to Oscar’s driving style.
Amy Schumer is one of the faces that best represents that wave of comic women who, thanks to social networks and the opening of Hollywood, have shaken the television scene.
From the same generation as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Amy Poehler, or Rebel Wilson, her humor is characterized by speaking openly about sex, the pressure to fit physical ideals, feminism, racism, and, more recently, motherhood.
“In fact, it’s the first time I’ve been on tour since I had a baby, but my family supports me a lot, they’re with me almost all the time,” said the comedian, who before her pregnancy filled Madison Square Garden in New York (nearly 20,000 viewers), opened for Madonna and starred in “Inside Amy Schumer”, her own reality show.
He also has experience hosting award shows, his monologue at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards went viral for his jokes about Hillary Clinton, Harrison Ford’s plane crashes (more frequent than desirable), and the power of the cast of ” Magic Mike” to “make his fingers disappear” while watching the movie.
“Amy Schumer doesn’t cut it and that’s why we love her comedy so much,” MTV then celebrated in its releases.
With the same decision, the comedian has proposed that the president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, appear at the Oscars.
The final decision depends on the producers of the ceremony, although she has already advanced that it will include some comment on the “current conditions” in a gala that, however, will fulfill the function of entertaining in troubled times.
DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER, AND PRODUCER OF “LIFE & BETH”
In parallel to the presentation of the Oscars, Schumer has just premiered on Hulu and Disney +.
“Life & Beth” is a series directed, written, and starring by herself, about a woman who seems to have it all: She lives in Manhattan with her partner, makes a living as a businesswoman in the wine world and her friends admire her. But nothing about her satisfies him.
“She lives the way she’s supposed to live and she’s pretty unhappy,” Schumer explained.
His life will turn 180 degrees when he returns to his town due to a family incident.
Between comedy and realism, Schumer makes “Life & Beth” another portrait of millennial disillusionment like “Fleabag”, “Girls” or the Spanish “Cardo”. Series for millennials, precisely the audience that the Oscars want to recover.