Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to Co-Host the Oscars

Kat Angus
November 4, 2009

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will cohost the 82nd annual Academy Awards.

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Photo by: Getty Images

Ricky Gervais better bring his comedy A-game to the Golden Globes next year, because it’s entirely possible that he’ll be upstaged by the Oscars only a few weeks later. That’s because, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday, the Oscars have tapped both Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to cohost the 82nd annual awards telecast.

We’ll give you a minute to get over your heartbreak that Neil Patrick Harris didn’t get the job.

"I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin," Martin said in a statement.

"I don't play the banjo, but I'm thrilled to be hosting the Oscars – it's the opportunity of a lifetime,” added Baldwin.

Giving the hosting gig to two people is a change of pace for the Academy Awards, who haven’t used multiple hosts since 1987, when Paul Hogan, Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase shared the stage. Of course, the Oscars are looking to change their reputation as an overly long, insider-only affair, so hiring comedy kings Martin and Baldwin is a pretty good move. And it doesn’t hurt that the two star in It’s Complicated with Meryl Streep, due out this Christmas.

The 82nd annual Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 7 on ABC.