By abc.com
Comedy stars Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, the first duo to share the Oscar stage as co-hosts in the television age, traded punch lines and barbs in Sunday’s show as they gently roasted this year’s nominees.
Working the room like a pair of Hollywood insider insult comics, Martin and Baldwin singled out many of the assembled Oscar contenders for some light, deflationary ribbing, starting with each other.
After they were lowered to the stage from the rafters of the Kodak Theater on a glittering, circular contraption adorned with showgirls, Baldwin introduced his partner as “one of the most enduring entertainers of all time, Mr. Steve Martin.”
Martin reciprocated, sort of, by presenting his co-host: “And this is Alec Baldwin.”
Much of the evening’s humor continued in that vein, politely irreverent, at times silly and often self-deprecating on an institutional scale.
After one commercial break, Baldwin welcomed television viewers back to what he called “the biggest night in Hollywood — since last night.”
In their shared opening monologue, Martin motioned in the audience to Sandra Bullock, a favorite to win the Oscar as best actress for “The Blind Side.”
“Who doesn’t love Sandra Bullock,” Martin asked rhetorically, to which Baldwin answered archly, “Well tonight, we may find out.”
The pairing of Martin and Baldwin, seen by some as an odd-couple choice to emcee the film industry’s highest honors, was not so unusual given their screen chemistry in the recent film comedy “It’s Complicated,” about a middle-aged love triangle.
Martin hosted the Oscars twice before, in 2001 and 2003. Baldwin, the Emmy-winning star of the hit sitcom “30 Rock,” was once nominated for an Academy Award, for “The Cooler,” but failed to win.
‘THAT DAMN HELEN MIRREN’
One of their favorite targets on Sunday clearly was their “It’s Complicated” cohort Meryl Streep, a best-actress hopeful for “Julie & Julia” with a total 16 Oscar nominations to her name, more than any other performer in history.
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