Friendly advice for the host of the Academy Awards

Feb 23, 2013 7:00 AM by Meagan Morris

Posted in Entertainment

The mastermind behind Ted is no stranger to raunchy comedy. The big question: Will he tone down his jokes for the show? He vows to make the show family friendly. Well, kind of.

"The Oscars will still be something a family in 2013 can sit down and watch and be just fine with," he told USA Today. "A family in 1955 might have some issue[s] with it. In 2013, everyone will be fine. Then again, I'm not married and I don't have kids. And my mother was saying [nasty things] out loud by the time I was 5. So maybe I'm the wrong guy to ask."

However, we should expect him to harp on celebrities like former Globes host Ricky Gervais.

"There is a certain element, even in the days when [five-time host] Johnny Carson was there, of roasting," MacFarlane added. "It's just a matter of how black the meat gets. I'm going somewhere from medium to medium-well."

Our advice for Seth

We're pulling for MacFarlane to do the (almost) impossible: entertain the audience while keeping A-lister egos in check. It's a tricky game, so we have a bit of advice for him:

Get some help from the audience. Fey & Poehler worked so well because they played off each other — and the audience. Enlist a few celeb friends to help you with jokes from the audience. It'll break up the inevitable host-vs.-audience tension and hopefully lighten up the crowd in the process.
Leave us wanting more. The Golden Globes was the first awards show that left us actually wanting more of the hosts. Take a page out of Fey and Poehler's playbook by keeping the monologues short, sweet and hilarious.
Consume a little liquid courage before the show — but not too much.
Don't be afraid of offending people. (Somehow, we don't think he'll have a problem with this one.)