Jon Stewart Delivers Big at Oscars

I thought Jon Stewart did great, and made this one of the better Oscars of the last 20 years. Remember the moment after the rap group won? Jon watched their gleeful reaction and asked, “Why are those guys the most thrilled to be here? Now that is how you accept an Oscar.” That was the moment I was waiting for: Jon observed, he analyzed, and he cracked the crowd up. Now right afterwards he went to the prepared line. Normally on his show, I’m sure he would have dumped it, but they’ve probably been working on it for weeks, and he committed to it.
It was something about rap and interpretive dance and it fell flat because the slot it went in was already taken, by the previous comments. With those we were hanging out with the guy, reacting to something at the same time, and this is where Jon Stewart is at his best. That to me is the essence of his humor: You drop him into a situation and he's funny - he knows exactly where to go with it. He doesn’t wear out, and if anything I wished he had more time, something I didn’t feel about others even including the gold standard of late: Billy Cyrstal.
In years past, I have gotten into the extremely bored zone within 45 minutes of the opening, but this was different. I muted a couple of acceptance speeches but overall this Oscars went by at a rapid rate. If they don’t bring back Jon Stewart again, they are crazy.