Will Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar emcee shoes fit Ellen DeGeneres?

Will Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar emcee shoes fit Ellen DeGeneres?
The stars are shining down on Ellen DeGeneres. At least they will on February 25, when the 49-year-old comedienne hosts the 79th Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

As the first-time host of the extremely popular awards ceremony, DeGeneres has fairly large shoes to fill. With past hosts like Whoopi Goldberg, the legendary Bob Hope, Steve Martin and most notably Billy Crystal, DeGeneres will be under the magnifying glass to deliver lines that will enter her in the host hall of fame. And she'll have to be careful to not rub anyone the wrong way.

It seems just like yesterday when host Chevy Chase welcomed the stars attending the 1988 award ceremony by calling them 'Hollywood phonies' and Chris Rock invited scowls when he passed some seemingly snide remarks about Hollywood in Oscars 2005. Add to that the fact that DeGeneres is only the second woman, after Goldberg, to host the most popular film awards in the world, and it's not hard to guess that the gay comedienne might be trying to catch the butterflies in her stomach.

To give her credit, DeGeneres is no stranger to path-breaking events. After all, she remains the first ever out-of-the-closet gay to play the lead character in a popular US sitcom with Ellen. Her emceeing skills have also won her praise time and again, notably in November 2001, when she sensitively emceed the Emmy Awards' TV broadcast in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Her lines – 'What would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?' and 'Terrorists can't take away our creativity, our striving for excellence, our joy. Only network executives can do that' – won her wide approval and much later, a chance to host the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony which was against the backdrop of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. These two examples might be indicative of the reason why Oscar organizers chose DeGeneres to host the awards ceremony, given the political climate in the United States.

Asked how she manages to make people forget about their sorrows after such tragedies, the comedienne, who is in a romantic relationship with Ally McBeal actress Portia de Rossi, is humble. “It's the same thing I do when I do my show. It's really just setting that tone, and for me, being funny without being condescending or mean-spirited,” she said to a television magazine recently. The affable comedienne targets herself and the world in general instead of specific people, a far cry from political satirists Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, the often-insulting hosts who emceed the 77th and 78th Academy Awards respectively.

Not that leaving a mark as an Oscar host is going to be easy. Her female predecessor, Whoopi Goldberg, a highly successful path-breaking Hollywood actress, has charmed audiences in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002. The last time she emceed in the aftermath of 9/11, her witty line – 'Security here tonight is tighter than some of the faces' – has been chronicled as one of the best Oscar moments.

Her popularity peaked in 1999, when as many as 45.6 million viewers tuned in to watch Goldberg at play. Others like Billy Crystal, who hosted the ceremony in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2004, and Bob Hope, the most popular Oscar host who regaled audiences with his wit in 18 ceremonies spread over the years 1939 and 1977, have made Academy Awards hosting something like a tough test. All eyes now will be on DeGeneres, who will take the litmus test on Sunday.