17: The Best and Worst of the 2019 Oscars

Good evening and welcome to the 1,000,000th Academy Awards. We are not your hosts, but we're going to stand here a little too long so that the people who get USA Today tomorrow will think that we hosted. If you were watching the ABC broadcast of the Oscars last night, you know that that will call them the Amy Matina trio who kicked off the broadcast last night. So on this week's edition of the Confident Communications podcast, my friend Mary is joining me again as we speak about the Oscars. Hello, Mary.

Hi, Molly. How are you today?

I'm a little tired. How about you?

I can say the same. You know, one thing I was thinking, Molly, we have always been united by a burning den des to know exactly what's going on. And, you know, that was a great, great show to try to figure out what the heck is actually going on.

Well, okay, you. You read it right there. Because I felt that I had to put extra energy into the broadcast last night because I never knew quite what was going on. So I feel like we're the same here.

Absolutely. The sort of disembodied voice, you know, not having a host to tie things together. And they were really bad with captions like, I didn't know who was up there all the time. I had to kind of. Sometimes I just reverse to understand who actually that was speaking.

I'm. I'm going to. I'm going to place that on age as well. I think I'm at the point right now where I go into any type of broadcast like this. I'm not going to know half the people just right off the bat. It's just being old.

That's.

That's a big part of it, I guess. Well, last night, of course. So we're Talking about the 91st telecast of the Academy Awards, and this was in the history of the Academy Awards, the first hostless Oscar. And depending on what you read the next morning, if we're Monday morning quarterbacking this, it seems like most thought the broadcast was boring without the host, but the lack of host made it move along, move along on a little bit of a quicker pace. Would you agree?

Absolutely. It definitely did snap right along.

Yeah, it did snap along. But did you find it boring?

It was a little dull. It was a little dull. And the opening number with Queen. Not Queen. Adam Lambert is just not Freddie Mercury. And it felt a little American Idol ish to me. You know, like, I just.

Oh, well, we'll, We'll. We're going to hold that because I'm going to bring that back into our list because of course I brought Mary back. You know, I needed to bring you back because the last time you and I spoke about the Golden Globes and I thought, well, of course it's the Oscars. I have to bring Mary back. So we can hash out what happened last night. Mary and I are going to discuss our top three and our bottom three choices for who had a good night, public opinion wise. So who came out ahead of the game after the broadcast and who had to pick up some of the pieces. And not the brand, of course, but their publicist. And that's the angle that we're looking at it. So I asked Mary to. Mary to give me her top three and bottom three. And I will share them as well. So. So let's start with our top first. So, Mary, tell me, out of the top three people that had a good night, who do you have as number one on your list?

I have Spike Lee having a great night last night. He was, he came off to me as like a lovable eccentric with real friends in Hollywood. And some of the reaction shots were a bit much. But, you know, he's a, he's a person with. Who's opinionated and that's okay. And he took some time to, like, get his own backstory out there, which I love that, you know, his grandmother who went to Smelden, who then got him through nyu and you, you know, all his achievements there. I just, I loved his prince ring. I loved his purple suit. You know, I thought he did a really great job and brought more of his personality out through the evening.

Well, he certainly reintroduced, I think, Spike Lee to a younger audience. I think like many of the, like, maybe the younger generations aren't quite familiar with Spike Lee. It's funny. We know that. Do the right Thing, Spike Lee. This is now the black Klansman Spike Lee. I thought he looked like a cross between Prince and the Riddler.

Well, yeah, yeah, I could see that. And then he did the homage to do the right thing with the four fingered rings on each hand, the love and hate. I mean, he was definitely a strong. He's definitely a strong personality. But I was really happy to see him win.

That's a good choice. I think that's good. Now, the reason why he did not make my list is because of what he did at the end. Like, I love the exuberance, I love the suit. I loved how he brought the bio in, letting people know. So Spike is smart. He knew that he had to reintroduce the Spike Lee brand to the Audience. But at the end, when he kind of threw the hissy fit when the Green Book run, when they won. Did you know that?

Yeah, that's a little class, as I saw that. I know. I mean, but it's, you know, I think part of it is being a passionate artist too, you know, and I think he's a man of strong opinions and, you know, that seems to be part of his brand though, too, that he is very outspoken and what he feels he's going to let you know. Right.

And you didn't see it in the broadcast. I wasn't aware of his hissy fit during the broadcast, but in the coverage today, as I was reading it, some of the. The articles, it was almost like there's a Bruder film. Like we saw clip by clip of what Spike Lee did, you know, when he heard the Grand Book, the Green Book one, you know, he shot out of his seat and he walked out to the back, you know, ran down the aisle and then came back again. I didn't quite get that. Like, I don't understand because maybe the bad press around the Green Book, but at any rate, that's why he was just shy. I would have put him on my list, but that's why he just missed it at the, at the end.

I could see that the, the exuberance he showed when Brooklyn was mentioned by Barbra Streisand. I mean.

Oh, I like that. Yeah, I like that. And Samuel Jackson talking about the Knicks. I. That totally relatable. I like that. Okay, so mine, I would. Who was a bit of a shock win for me was Olivia Colman, who won lead actress for the favorite. Now, I know you're like me on this one. You wanted Glenn Close.

I did want Glenn Close to win, and so I was not expecting to like Olivia Colman as much as I did. I was genuinely sad to see Glenn Close lose, and I was just charmed by Olivia Colman. She. What a lovely, joyful, charming speech.

Humble, wasn't she?

Perfect.

Like the timing of her speech, her behavior, how she accepted it. It was spot on. Perfect and refreshing.

I agree. I agree. I want to see more of her. And that's kind of the whole point, isn't it? You know?

Well, I guess I don't know if I want to see more of her. I thought you see the movie. In fairness, I did not see the movie. And I saw. I only saw the Wife after Glenn Close won her Golden Globe. I saw it on a flight and oh, my goodness, I loved that movie. So I thought that she was an absolute, absolute shoe in for her portrayal and the wife. But she. But Olivia Colman, the reason why she made my list is incredibly refreshing. She wasn't prepared. She just brought everyone along onto her side. And that's where I do think the point of. Of why you have the Oscars and you make that acceptance speech and how you get everyone just on your bandwagon is you do exactly what Olivia did. It's unscripted. It was emotional. I. I just really enjoyed her. So that's why she was on my list. Okay, who's the next person on the list?

Well, you might not agree with this. My next person is Melissa McCarthy. She obviously wasn't a big part of the broadcast, but what she did was brilliant. She came out to present an award, and she had a very deadpan delivery in an absolutely ridiculous outfit covered in bunnies, and her face was just gorgeous, but never really changed. But then she had the little puppet making the overbroad gestures, and it was just genuinely funny.

Now, why did you assume that I didn't like it?

Well, I. It just wasn't a major part of the broadcast. But I thought she really furthered her brand of being just like an absolutely hysterical woman who's able to, you know, really charm any kind of room. And I also thought that the clip they showed for best actress for her production of can you ever forgive me? Was really, like, also tailored to the room where she. That she was talking about in that clip about being afraid, not being afraid to fail. It was very inspirational. So those two things that she got to be very funny and very inspirational in one short burst in a broadcast I thought was great. And she also changed into a black tracksuit after the show was over.

Oh, I didn't see that. I didn't see that. Who. Tell me, who is she standing next to? Who did she present next to? Who was also Natalie dressed, I'll say, in stuffed animals. Who was that?

I'm looking that up, actually, because that was one that I had to look up because I was unsure.

I don't know why it wasn't Questlove. I just. I don't know who it was. And I'm going to withhold my full Melissa McCarthy review on her outfits. And she's your number two, but. Okay. All right, good to know. That's your choice. My number two is Hannah Beechler, and she was. She won for production design for Black Panther. Do you remember who that was?

Absolutely.

Yeah. Okay. Now, this is the reason why. This is the reason why I liked her and I. And I had tweeted about it is I noted that she came up and she immediately put on the cheaters. So she had her glasses on. I noticed that she had a tat, a full on display. But then her acceptance speech, and I think this is the first in the history of the Oscars, she read it from an iPhone. I love that. I love that. I have never seen that before. And I thought this is like a truly next gen acceptance speech where she's reading it from her notes, the notes app on her iPhone. So that's one of the reasons. And yes, because of Black Panther that she won it around. She won the award along with Ruth Carter. She won it for costume design. And I believe they're the first two black women to win those awards. And I think that's wonderful. But there was something about Hannah's, like, complete vibe that I just loved, and I just thought it was new and refreshing and she wasn't wearing a stuffed animal on her.

Yeah, I loved her. My only criticism is she didn't let her co. Co winner. Yes, I know.

I noticed that if he did stand off. Yeah, that's. That's a really good point. I did notice that. Because really, anything that he would have said at that point, he would have. He would have diminished her the whole vibe that she had. And I think he knew that. So actually, he should have been on my list. Like the guy that chose to remain silent to give Hannah her moment.

That's a nice way to put it. That's lovely. And it was Brian Tyree Henry who presented costume Design with Melissa McCarthy.

Well, who is he?

Well, that's a good question.

You did all that looking up and we don't know who he is. Okay. All right. Well, it goes to show what I thought about that presentation. Okay, what's your next one on the list?

Well, actually, I too, went to Olivia Colman on that, so as sort of a great one just because I was so blown away by her. But you know what? Why don't we say Alfonso Cuaron, you know, obviously, massive winner last night, you know, really, really gracious to all.

Okay, and again, this is me conflating everyone. Is he the one that made the reference to. I grew up watching foreign films like Jaws? Was that him?

I believe so.

But what right do we to have this podcast if we don't even know who half the people are that walked out on stage? Stage. Okay, okay.

But I. I would have said my. Actually, honestly, my. Olivia Coleman was my third on the list, and I was having trouble because the. The winners and losers on this, you know. I know. Here's a better one at a little unexpected. Julia. Robert.

Okay, tell me about Julia Roberts.

I thought Julia Roberts came out, said what she had to say, was very efficient, ended the po, Ended the whole event beautifully. Short and to the point and being gracious to family, you know, mentioning her children and to Bradley Cooper's mom, you know, her soul reach outs, not so Hollywood. I mean, it was sort of anti her. Sort of.

Yes, very anti. Julia, can I ask you, did we know that Bradley Cooper's mother had such a short stature? Did you notice that?

I had seen that at another award. Yeah. Yeah. Very surprising. Yeah.

Wow. Do we think, is, do we think, is he adopted or do we know. Is there a story there?

Not to my knowledge. That's a good question. I know his father passed away not too many years ago, and I think that he actually lives with. Lived with his mother for a very long time as an adult. Like only recently did they separate households.

Oh, wow. You really do know. You don't know who's presenting next to Mary McCarthy, but you know, the living status of Bradley Cooper's mother. Okay.

They're very close.

So let me ask you to wrap up your Olivia Colman. What did you think of her, of her outfit then?

I didn't totally get. I did not like the rap that much. But you know what? I thought it was very age appropriate and her makeup was beautiful.

Yeah, I like the color.

The color was very. Yeah. And very becoming. And, you know, it's got to be difficult to be an actress and be so not attractive on film and then.

You know, and then try and be attractive. Yeah. On stage. Okay, so my third goes to Amy, Maia and Tina, who we heard at the beginning of the podcast, I thought, and the reason why I added them there. And they were pretty much the same. And even I would say their level of humor was not quite as biting as they. They typically are at award shows. But I thought it was funny and smart that they, they came out right away in the beginning. They had their jokes, they had their riff. They used the three of them. So it wasn't just Amy and Tina or just Tina and Maya. It was the three of them. And I thought they were quick and they. And they made the joke about, you know, we'll stand on stage long enough for USA Today to notice as the, as the host. But it's so smart from a PR perspective that people are going to clamor for them to host next year. So that's why I put them in the list.

I like that. As always. Tina was the funniest. She got the best lines. And I thought the cheese sandwiches under your chair and.

Oh, from the Fyre Festival. That was very clever. I like that. Probably went over the heads of many Oscar viewers, but I noted that that was fun.

Well, I think also there's kind of a dig at the waste of time that Oscar's happy to do. They'll do these. Remember last year? They're giving out pizzas a couple years ago. Yes, yes. Not giving rewards for makeup, but they can still somehow find time for Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.

And I do hate to do that. Yeah, there is. Some people were aging differently. I thought Amy Poehler looked a little busted. Oh, did you think. Is that just me?

I thought she looked good. I thought she looked pretty good.

I don't. She looked tired. Like, she looked like she'd been up all night. Maybe that's it.

Maybe she.

She had a sick child.

Well, I think.

But that's all. That's all say about that.

Yeah, Yeah. I think she's producing that Netflix thing. That's very popular Russian doll. I think she's got a lot of irons in the fire because she's tired.

Okay. She's tired. She's busy.

Yeah.

And who am I? Who am I sitting there? I probably looked. I looked, you know, thousand times worse than Amy. So who am I to say anything? Okay, so now let us move on to our. Our bottom three, and I will. I. I do have to ask you this. Did you read the reviews about the set design of the Oscars itself, that they. Some compared it to a baked Alaska, where others said it looked like Donald Trump's hair.

I saw Donald Trump's hair. I did not see big.

Yeah. And then when you see Donald Trump's hair, then you couldn't unsee it. Like, that's all you could see watching the broadcast for the rest of the evening was his hair. Okay, now our bottom list. Would you like to start with your number one?

I think you're gonna be surprised by my number one. My number one was Amy Adams.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, so it was her sixth time being nominated. She didn't win. You know, for advice that was not very well regarded in the course of the evening or well awarded during the course of the evening. But the one time it was actually success the. In makeup. And that was a very odd presentation the makeup people gave when they came on up. If you recall, the one man said, oh, you're here to the Second one after he had started talking and she busted in. So they had a weird vibe. But one of the only things that she, the makeup artist who once spit out was a thank you to Amy Adams for pushing us to, to bring us up to your level. And I didn't know how else to take this.

You think that was a dig that.

She had been riding the makeup people?

Oh, okay. Well, let me add, let me add two things in here. So I. One, I just started watching sharp objects on a plane. I saw the first season. I couldn't get into it. And then I watched the whole thing on a plane and I, and I did like it. And I, I've read subsequent articles about it where people will allude to the fact that Amy Adams is a very, very hard worker. And I may have seen the word perfectionist, so that may mean something that Amy Adams is kind of known to kind of push things. Maybe I don't want to propagate a, you know, a rumor. But then the other piece is that the hair and makeup was one of the sections that was going to be relegated to the off broadcast portion where they were going to do hair and makeup, I think, during the commercial break and then replay it in a clip. So that could have been a dig to the producers.

That makes sense. Yeah. I mean, she didn't have a terrible night, but when the only thing that's said of you all night is, you know, you kind of berated the makeup artist that appears.

Yes. I think, oh, Mary, that's not a winner. That's a very, very good one. Okay, so on my list, which probably isn't a surprise, but Melissa McCarthy. Now, I will agree with you that I liked the, you know, the, the spectrum of her character that in that movie and I, I did not see the movie. And I have to be honest. Can you ever forgive me? The only buzz I had heard of it was from Richard Grant, Richard E. Grant. He had a lot of buzz that people wanted to see his acceptance speech if he won. But I wasn't really familiar with that movie. But I didn't like the fact that Melissa McCarthy was nominated for a very serious role, one that she's now getting acclaim for. And then she had to walk out on stage with all the stuffed animals, the 101 Dalmatians. It's like the one time I didn't want Melissa McCarthy to be Melissa McCarthy.

I absolutely understand that perspective. I like that she had showed a range that, you know, she did something comedic and then.

Yeah, I don't know, I just kind of wish that she didn't do it because she always. I feel like that's what she always defaults to. And it was the one night that she didn't need to do that.

Yes. She didn't have to be class clown. I understand that.

Right, right. Okay, who's next on your list?

Well, you know, I kind of feel like we're kicking somebody when they're down. But I had to say Bradley Cooper, Even though he did a beautiful job and it was very brave of him to perform shallow in front of that enormous live audience. And he, you know, he went in to this. His strategy going into Oscar was to be nominated for best Director. And when that didn't happen, he just sort of pivoted too late to wanting the. To the. The actor win, and it just. It was too late.

Yeah, yeah. And I thought the performance. And again, I have not seen the film, so I'm not fully on this bandwagon of everyone gushing over how romantic the two of them looked. I thought it was unusual that he was sitting off to the other side of the piano. The camera view is they had it towards the audience, which I thought was unique. But I think the conspiracy theorists in me did that. That they did that shot. So they wouldn't be highlighting the fact that Bradley Cooper wasn't playing a guitar.

No. I think everything they've done has been orchestrated from the beginning. First to get him to win director and then to try to pivot to actors. I think they've been, you know, playing it all along. Everything's been orchestrated. They just.

Yeah, and I'm such a cynic. The last shot at the end, when the two of them are looking at each other, I don't know. Everybody loved it and they're sopping all over it. I just looked at it as a complete orchestration that's part of the Gaga play.

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. She's got. Always got production value going on.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And undercurve production value. Okay. So my number two, you had touched on Adam Lambert, who opened up the broadcast with his Queen medley, which I loved. I loved Adam Lambert. He's just. He's just back the. When he won his season or he was a runner up, he covered Mad World, and I thought he did a great. A great job. And I love him with Queen. So I thought that was very peppy and upbeat. But in the battle of the former American Idol contestants, I think that my number two, Jennifer Hudson, who normally has a very strong, booming voice, I Thought her song that she sang from the RBG movie was not good.

I agree. I, I actually, I didn't listen to it all. I went up and made some tea.

How's that for a review? Yes. Well, that's all that needs to be said about that. Mary left to make tea. No, I mean she couldn't hit notes. It was bad. Yeah. So we'll, we'll leave it at that. That's what we thought of Jennifer Hudson. We left the room. Okay, who's next on your list?

You know this. I was struggling a bit to come. I just, you know, to pick out a loser from the. I did not like the disembodied voice. I think we talked about that a little bit earlier. That, that kind of announced different things. I kind of like having the structure of a host like that. It kind of worked. Having sort of the beginning with Tina and Maya and Amy and then the end with Julia Roberts. But I overall found it disjointed.

So your number three is the disembodied voice, the nameless voice. I don't like to pick on people. Well, that's not fun. Oh, you're too nice. Oh, you're like, what? They're going to hear this. We're going to, I'm going to get a call from Spike Lee or Lady Gaga. All right. Okay.

So I thought Ludwig Gordon said needed to cut his hair.

I, Ludwig was very interesting to me. So we saw the hair and then, and then once I heard the accent, I thought, oh well, he's like a crazy long haired European, you know, from some Nordic country. But he was nice. I like, I love that kind of innocence. Okay, so my number three is really a tie. And I'm choosing to name people that were well known and actually have names. My first one is I was going to put Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, which was very nice to see them walk out and introduce Bohemian Rhapsody as the movie and evoke an older movie with Wayne's World and why that song came into being. But Mike Myers, I thought looked. Well, who am I to criticize people? But he looked a little bloated and his hair looked a little dark. And he and Dana, it appeared that you could tell that those two had a riff years ago and they maybe came together for this broadcast to do the introduction. That's just my take.

What about you? Yeah, I could see that that didn't seem, they were, didn't seem to be in the same worlds anymore. And it seemed like a pretty old bit. And for me to say That I know. Yeah.

When we're saying that. And then who I was going to put on the list is John Mullaney in Awkwafina, and she's from Crazy Rich Asians. They. They introduced two categories and I, I love John Mulaney. Like, I, I think he's very clever and he normally performs or he would emcee like the Independent Spirit Awards and he and Nick Kroll would. Would do it together in the riff, back and forth. Those two have it. But it seemed a little tortured with Awkwafina. Now, do you remember when those two. Do you know who John Mulaney is? Oh, yeah.

No, I love John Mulaney and I did not like their kind of focus on. Except our first time at the Oscars, you know, kind of went on a little too long with that. And her thing when she mentioned Spike Lee and sort of said what? Like as. Sort of like as her reaction to seeing Spike Lee, which is a non reaction. And he picked up on it and.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then they. And then they cut to him looking like. I don't get it. Like, what is so funny about this? Yeah. And that's when, you know, when they go to the reaction shot and the crowd looks good, confused, you know that you're. You're not hitting, right? Yeah, you're not hitting it. So that's why I kind of added them onto my final. Onto my final list. Now just to wrap up, what did you think of our final winners? Like the best movie, Best actor. We talked about Best Actress with Olivia Colman. What'd you think about Ramy?

Well, I love the movie. I mean it. I can see where people faulted some of the editing. There's some weird, some weird jumps in the movie. But it. He gave me chills as an actor, you know, that performance was mind blowing.

It was so good. I was so happy that he won and I loved his acceptance speech. I was almost looking at my watch to see how long it would take him to thank his girlfriend in the front row and co star, who is rumored not to be. That could be a bearded girlfriend, but she, you know, that took a while, but then I don't know if you saw that he fell off the stage. Did you read that?

He didn't. I was trying to figure out when that happened.

Like it happened. I guess maybe when they went to break, he came off. Fell off the stage. They called the paramedics in, but it was. It was serious enough that he missed the final photo where the top four, the best Actor and actress and supporting actor and actress where they do the photo together. He missed it because he was being attended to by the paramedic. Oh, isn't that awful? Like you're one shot and. Yeah. And then you, you fall off the stage and then. What did you think of the best picture, the Green Book?

It was a surprising thing. And I wondered if it had to do with like that whole proportional voting system, you know, where I think it's sort of like if you, you have to pick a first and a second, somehow that's how it edged in there. If it was sort of everybody's number two pick and everything else got. All the first choices got kind of scattered. I mean, it just was so controversial. And they did not bring up Dr. Shirley's family in the acceptance speech, which I thought was odd.

Well, they didn't, but Mahershala, when he won for his award for best supporting actor, the first line in his acceptance speech was that he, you know, I think after. Thank you was that he wanted to portray the essence of, of Dr. Shirley, which is, I believe, his way of saying, hey, it's not word for word here, folks. We were not told, the screenwriters were not told that they. That he even had a family. And apparently Dr. Shirley had asked them not to contact his family. So I think, I think Mahershala did a good job at least addressing that. And that's just good wording, good messaging. He's spot on there. I just saw the movie about a week ago and boy, did I love this movie. It was such a good movie. So I was really pleased to see that they won. And I didn't think that Bohemian Rhapsody was going to win because of all of the bad press surrounding the original director, Bryan Singer. And he was fired from the film for his erratic behavior. And then of course, I don't know if it was the Atlantic or Esquire did, did a very deep, deep hit piece on his. The sexual misconduct allegations against him. So I think I assumed that they weren't going to win, but I was happy to see the Green Book win.

Yeah. And I think Bryan Singer is going to make $40 million or something, they said, out of the success of Bohemian Rhapsody. So, you know, in the end, it is a, you know, the checkbook matters. I don't think they really wanted to financially continue to reward somebody who's a predator.

Yes, exactly. Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Okay, well, Mary, thank you so much for giving your feedback to the, to the 91st Academy Awards telecast. Our top three and bottom three for who had a good night and who had a not so good night. So Mary, thank you for taking the time to speak with my listeners today.

Oh Molly, it was such a pleasure. It's always great to hear your voice too.

Oh, you as well. Okay. Have a great day, Mary. And thank you everyone for listening. Bye for now. Thank you Mary for joining me on the podcast this week. It is always so much more fun to talk about major award shows when you can jabber about it with a friend. So I always love having Mary on the podcast. And thank you Listening now. This was an episode where we dissect how well people did on stage speaking to millions of people. And not many of us are ever going to have that opportunity, but plenty of times you will find yourself in front of a group of people speaking about something and usually about the work that you do. I have created a special download to help people when they are in a position to speak about themselves, to speak about a job, or to speak about some type of work that they do. It's called Power Speak, Weak Speak. It's just the one sheet on some tips to help you if you ever find yourself on stage, not in front of millions of people, but you never know. So if you go to my website, Molly mcpherson.com powerspeak that's mollymcpherson.com backslash powerspeak and you can sign up to receive a special download for me on how to become a more powerful speaker. Thanks again for joining me this week on the Confident Communications Podcast. Before I let you go, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your podcast on your phone or on your computer. Thanks again for tuning in and I look forward to chatting with you next week.

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