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The 2022 Oscars award show airs Sunday night, but if you either don’t care or haven’t heard much about this year’s show, you’re not alone. In addition to the fact that COVID dramatically (and probably permanently) changed the world’s movie-going habits, the broadcast is going to be hosted by the world’s unfunniest woman (and niece of Chuck), Amy Schumer.

There’s one thing Academy Awards show producers could do that would dramatically increase viewership that they’ve been unwilling to do, and that’s to allow someone to host who is actually funny and who won’t use the gig as a platform for three hours of virtue signaling. Someone like Ricky Gervais. Back in January, Gervais told the ladies of “The View” that he would host the Oscars for free – but only under certain conditions:

“I might be allowed to host [the Oscars] if I did what I was told, but there’s the rub,” Gervais said when Sunny Hostin asked him about his hesitation. “The good thing about the Globes was [that] they said I could write my own jokes, say what I want, and not rehearse. And that is just too good for a comedian to turn down, whereas I don’t think the Oscars would ever allow me that freedom, and rightly so. I think they would be mad.”

But Gervais admitted that if the Academy agreed to those rules, “I’d definitely do it. I’d do it for free.”

Whoopi Goldberg then said she thought Gervais was wrong:

“I think you’re wrong. I think they would absolutely adore it, if you were up for it…

“Did I hear you say you might be interested? ‘Cause if you’re serious, I could talk to a couple people. I know people.”

Who knows if Goldberg actually talked to a couple people or not, but Gervais isn’t hosting the award show. Sunday morning, a random Twitter user posted a video from Gervais’ opening monologue at the Golden Globes, saying, “RT if you wish @RickyGervais was hosting the Oscars tonight.”

Gervais responded, sharing how he’d open the show:

I’d start with “Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn’t be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given.”

“I’m proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. F**k them.”

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When asked if he could tweet some of these sentiments during the broadcast, Gervais responded in a way that most RedState readers will agree with:

Granted, Gervais lives in England so is eight hours ahead of Los Angeles, so he would probably be asleep anyway. If he wasn’t, the blowhard speeches would surely be a wonderful sleep aid. But, he won’t be alone. Ratings for what used to be one of the biggest nights in television have tanked over the last decade, and one expert says “the iceberg is in sight.”

Entertainment and IP attorney Tom Lallas — who represented the late comic book and Marvel legend Stan Lee before his death in 2018 — spoke to Fox News Digital, explaining what he believes is the “real problem” as it pertains to the Academy Awards show itself.

“ABC controls a television product that has ratings that have fallen off a cliff,” he said, explaining that in 1998 when James Cameron was the Oscars’ star attraction with “Titanic,” there were 57.25 million viewers. Last year in 2021, there were 9.85 million viewers — a whopping one-sixth, as many as there were barely 20 years ago.

They could change that trajectory quickly, but that would require more self-awareness than they’re probably capable of.

(BONUS: If you have not yet watched Gervais’ series “Afterlife” on Netflix, you have got to binge it.)

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