Congratulations, Seth MacFarlane — you’ve just become a historical footnote.
The Family Guy creator was nominated for an Oscar this morning, when Ted‘s “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” snagged a spot in the Best Song category. That makes MacFarlane the sixth person in Oscar history to both host and be nominated for a competitive award during the same ceremony. More importantly, MacFarlane is the only person who’s managed to achieve this feat while serving as the event’s solo host.
Host-slash-nominees — hominees? — are more common at Emmys or the Tonys than the Oscars, since those other ceremonies are more likely to be hosted by performers who work in the same medium as the awards being given. It’s interesting, then, that only two years have passed since a same-night Oscar nominee last took the stage as host — in 2011, Best Actor contender James Franco tested his emcee skills with co-host Anne Hathaway at the 83rd annual awards. (And we all know how that turned out.)
Before Franco, though, it had been 24 years since Paul Hogan hosted alongside Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn while also competing for a Best Original Screenplay statuette. (Alas, Crocodile Dundee‘s thunder was stolen by Hannah and her Sisters and Woody Allen.) Walter Matthau, Michael Caine, and David Niven also co-hosted the show as Best Actor nominees in 1976, 1973, and 1959, respectively. Only Niven won, making him the Oscars’ single victorious host-slash-nominee — so far, anyway.
Well, as long as you don’t count Bob Hope. The 14-time Academy Awards host received five honorary Oscars throughout his career, four of which were awarded to him while he was hosting the ceremony (in 1945, 1953, 1960, and 1966). In 1962, a New York City cabbie named Stan Berman — the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest gatecrasher” — also snuck onto the stage during the 34th Academy Awards to deliver a tiny homemade Oscar to Hope.
So don’t fret, Seth — if security is lax, you might walk away with a statuette no matter who gets Best Song.
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