Eddie Murphy To Host The Oscars

Well this is a thing. Eddie Murphy, who notoriously scrammed from the Oscars immediately after he didn’t win for Dreamgirls, will be hosting the show next year. He comes at the behest of Brett Ratner, who is producing the telecast.

But what Eddie Murphy shows up? Is it the edgy rascal we love from Saturday Night Live and his brilliant standup comedy? Or is it the tired, check-cashing sellout from Shrek and Meet Dave and most of the last twenty years? Deadline, who broke the story, notes that Murphy is a huge movie nerd (he’s a really big Star Trek nerd as well), so it’s possible that he’ll take the thing very seriously. Eddie is a comedian who feels a connection to the history of comedy, and I think that doing Bob Hope and Johnny Carson’s former job will mean something to him.

Of course @mrbeaks wisely points out that Eddie Murphy has a history of flaking. And I could easily see him flaking on the Oscars as well. He’s certainly big enough that he can afford to do it.