As a young boy growing up in New York City, Billy Crystal would go into the bathroom and use a toothbrush as a microphone, a stunt he often would use to make his mother and the rest of his family laugh.
“I didn’t think about it until I hosted the show for the first time,” Crystal told reporters earlier this year in preparation for the 76th Academy Awards. “When I was brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I put it in my pocket.”
He’s done it every year since and will have a toothbrush with him this year too.
This is the eighth year that Crystal has served as host. He headlined four consecutive shows starting in 1990, then came back after a three-year hiatus to do the 69th, 70th and 72nd shows. He won Emmys for his Oscar hosting gigs in 1991, 1992 and 1998.
That places him second only to Bob Hope’s 18 appearances, but it should raise the laughter quotient again after previous performances by Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin and one now-legendary awkward performance by David Letterman. None of them could match Crystal’s magic, let alone his energy.
In 1993, Crystal passed on a fourth straight appearance not only because he was busy, but also because the job takes a toll.
“Nobody could understand it, ‘How could you not want to do it?’ ” Crystal told the Los Angeles Times. “How I feel, what I do with my family, are more important. I did not need the four months of stress. Once I say, ‘Yes,’ I have a headache until I say, ‘Good night.’ “
His quick wit combined with the event’s pomp and glamor create an atmosphere that lets Crystal point at and make fun of the industry with one hand while patting it on the back with another.
Crystal loves to weave in current events, and recent Hollywood scandals should give the comic more than enough fodder. This year’s show should have that same healthy mix of laughter, but there also will be somber moments when the Academy honors Hollywood icons who have passed away in the past year, including Hope, Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
During one show, the camera panned the audience as Crystal pretended to say what each performer was thinking. For accomplished British actress Judi Dench, Crystal deadpanned, “Oh, this thong is killing me.”
But it was in 1992 when Crystal sealed his reputation as the right man for this job. Jack Palance, then his 73-year-old co-star in “City Slickers,” won best supporting actor and proved his solid physical condition by doing push-ups on the stage.
For the rest of the night, Crystal gave updates to the audience on Palance’s backstage workouts, saying Palance was bungee jumping off the Hollywood sign and climbing stairs. Later, after a lavish musical production involving dozens of children, Crystal told the crowd, “Jack Palance is the father of all those kids.”
And the toothbrush was along for the ride.
Worthy wisecracks
– In 1990, Crystal announced that since an Italian businessman was buying MGM Studios, the famed MGM lion would no longer roar but plead the 5th Amendment instead.
– When 100-year-old producer Hal Roach was acknowledged in the crowd on his birthday, he rose to give an impromptu speech that no one could hear. Crystal noted, “That is only fitting because Mr. Roach started his career in silent movies.”
– In 2000, Crystal’s trademark opening act montage showed the comic riding a bike through the air like “E.T.” “Look at me!” he shouted. “I’m higher than Jack Nicholson.”
