Wanda Sykes during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Image Source: Windobi
The 94th Academy Awards are going to be held on March 27th, 2022, and the stand-up comedian and actress Wanda Sykes is sharing her reaction and feelings about hosting the ceremony along with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer.
Wanda Sykes shared with People that when she was contacted to host the ceremony, she knew that she could not disclose the news to her wife Alex because, according to the stand-up comedian, she would have driven her nuts by asking about it every day.
The actress is excited to grace the stage as host along with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, and the three women are going to be the first hosts since Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Academy Awards in 2018. In her interview with Variety, the actress was asked if she was going to be star-struck or intimidated by the celebrities at the ceremony, to which she replied that she was going to be working, and while working, her focus is always on getting the work done.
During the interview, Wanda Sykes revealed that she has no target set to poke fun at the ceremony, where Regina Hall had mentioned that the part of the job (hosting) is to poke fun at the celebrities present in the room, and Amy Schumer mentioned that she wants to take the piss out of the audience.
Wanda went ahead to explain that the Academy Awards are a big and prestigious night, and the people who are in the room have worked hard for the movies. She added that they are genuinely excited about attending the award ceremony as they get dressed up in their best outfits, hoping that they will take some hardware, so she wants them to have a fun night rather than an anxious one where they will just be thinking about what the hosts are going to say about me now. She concluded that the people are there to have fun and they will have fun.
According to reports, after the announcement was made about the hosts of the 94th Oscars, Amy Schumer had once stepped out to test her material in an L.A. nightclub, Largo, but when it comes to Wanda, she was going to go directly on-stage. She explained that trying out material in a comedy club is like talking to folks off the street and not like if Helen Mirren or Lady Gaga is going to find it funny, and she aims to know if Helen Mirren finds her material funny.
Wanda was asked if she has watched the movies that are nominated in the Best Picture category, to which she mentioned that she has watched House of Gucci, CODA, and Encanto. She describes CODA as an excellent movie, House of Gucci with a lot of accents, and Encanto as a movie dictated by her and Alex’s 12-year-old twins, Olivia and Lucas.
Ahead of the ceremony, Wanda Sykes appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and mentioned that she is really excited to host the ceremony but when she was offered the opportunity she thought that out of all the jobs, this one is going to cost her money. Jimmy asked her about the figure she is going to get to which she said that she does not know and then Jimmy revealed that he was paid $15,000 to host.
Jimmy Kimmel added that it might seem like a lot for hosting for one night but it takes a lot of hardworking and months of preparations. He went onto say to Wanda that she's being robbed and urged her to hold out right now and Wanda joked that she has decided to steal an Oscar.
Wanda also spoke about the controversy in which the Motion Picture Academy decided to give the eight awards before the live show and edit the highlights during the live show. Wanda said that she goes back and forth about the decision as she truly believes that people work hard and would love to have the spotlight, but at the same time, she added that the ceremony is criticized every year for being too long and ratings are dropping, so if the Motion Picture Academy had decided to take this turn, then maybe it’ll help. She added that she hopes that they can hit the three-hour time and don’t go over it.
The ceremony is going to broadcast live on ABC.
