lloyd toronto reax from Seth macfarlane hosting the Oscars

The other day John Blabber posted up his thoughts of Seth MacFarlane hosting the Oscars. Now its time to get some perspective North of the border with Lloyd Toronto’s take on how the Family Guy creator did.

In it’s 85-year history, the Academy Awards can be considered the Citizen Kane of movie award shows. Or to bring it close to home for you animaniacs, the Pinocchio (the greatest animated film, according to Time Magazine) or Toy Story (Rotten Tomatoes) of award shows.

It’s an award show full of class and tradition, and viewers were thrown a curveball Sunday night, as the reigning king of controversial cartoons, Seth MacFarlane, brought his brand to the pretentious, members only, fellatio festival of pats on the back.

Viewers quickly took to Twitter to share their revulsion of MacFarlane’s “distasteful” use of comedy.

Perhaps some of the most controversial moments in Oscar history – or since Robin Williams sang “Blame Canada”, an Oscar nominee for Best Song from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, at the 1999 Academy Awards – were MacFarlane’s deliverance of tongue-in-cheek humor, ranging from domestic violence (On Django Unchained: “This is the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who’s been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie.”) to presidential assassinations (On Daniel Day Lewis’ method acting: “I always thought the actor who got most inside Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth.”), as well as weight problems (thick and thin), racism, sexism, homophobia…. The list goes on, but the important thing is, no stone was left unturned, not one celebrity was safe.

Viewers should have seen this coming a mile away, as MacFarlane is known for his crude and tasteless humor, dominating the televised animated world with Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show.

But a joke in bad taste does not mean it’s not clever.

It’s just not the brand of humor these glamorous movie stars and their soulless admirers are used to. And perhaps it’s not the type of humor best fit for such an event, and yours truly did cringe a bit before a knee-slapping spit-take. But it wasn’t the jokes themselves, but the millions of viewers who aren’t used to that type of humor I was lamenting for.

MacFarlane would have been better conceived hosting the Razzies, an award show that recognizes the worst films and actors in Hollywood.

The academy took a rejuvenating approach by selecting MacFarlane, as well as naming the show The Oscars, instead of The 85th Annual Academy Awards.

Although it was a ploy to appeal to the younger demographic, as part of the ratings race, it certainly paid off, as over 40 million viewers tuned in Sunday night.

The academy could have turned to previous hosts, such as the overly obnoxious Billy Crystal or the drier-than-a-bucket-of-sand Steve Martin (two overrated comedians), but they chose Seth MacFarlane, and he never sold out.