Emmy host aims to avoid stuffiness
As busy as Cedric the Entertainer is with his CBS sitcom “The Neighborhood” and other projects, he quickly said yes when asked to host his first major awards show.
Then he sought advice on how to handle Sunday’s Emmy ceremony, airing on CBS.
“Steve Harvey, my good friend who’s hosted a lot of these ‘big nights,’ he had some great tidbits for me,” said the actor-comedian. Others on his call list for trade secrets: Billy Crystal, Anthony Anderson and Chris Rock, all veterans at emceeing Hollywood bashes.
“And if you have a line on Tina Fey, I don’t have her number, but I would love to talk to her,” Cedric said.
He was already aware of one modern pitfall of hosting: offensive old jokes, like the ones on Twitter that cost Kevin Hart the Oscar emcee gig in 2018.
“Just try not to get canceled beforehand, that’s the biggest thing,” Cedric said, tongue firmly in cheek. It’s the kind of puckish observation that a man with a three-decadeplus career and at the top of his game is comfortable making.
As expert as he is, awards show audiences can be tough. Those waiting to hear if they’ve won or lost are tense, and viewers at home may shrug over unfamiliar nominees plucked from among an ever-expanding world of streaming and cable shows.
Sunday’s ceremony also faces the challenge of ongoing COVID-19 precautions, which have forced it from a theater into a glammed-up tent and limited the number of stars in attendance. That’s a step up from last year’s event, which was nearly all virtual and audience-less.
Cedric said his goal is a
show that avoids stuffiness and brings the TV audience “behind the velvet rope.”
Stone details nephew’s organ donation:
Sharon Stone said her infant nephew saved three lives through organ donations.
The donations helped bring “some peace” to the actor and her family after 11-month-old River William Stone tragically died late last month, she told People.
“The fact that my godson was able to save three lives — two infants and a 45-year-old man — was sanctuary for our family,” Stone said.
“I can only say that you never, never know when a tragedy will happen in your life or in your family, but this opportunity to be an organ donor, it saved us, saved our family.”
‘The Bodyguard’ remake in works: A “re-imagining” of
the 1992 romantic drama “The Bodyguard,” starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, is currently underway from Warner Bros.
Tony Award nominee Matthew Lopez has been tapped to script the film, which will be “inspired” by the original.
The project reportedly has been in the works since 2011, and the actors whose names have been floated to star in it include Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, and Channing Tatum and Cardi B.
Sept. 18 birthdays: Actor Robert Blake is 88. Singer Bobby Jones is 82. Singer Frankie Avalon is 81. Actor Holly Robinson Peete is
57. Singer Ricky Bell is 54. Actor Aisha Tyler is 51. Actor Jada Pinkett Smith is
50. Actor James Marsden is 48. Actor Jason Sudeikis is 46. TV personality Sara Haines is 44. Actor Billy Eichner is 43.