John Mulaney's Hilarious Field Of Dreams Recap Doubled As His Oscar Host Audition - And He Nailed It
For award show junkies frustrated with the apparent laziness of a lot of the comedic material delivered by award hosts in recent years, comedian John Mulaney has often been a beacon of hope. Whereas Jimmy Kimmel fills his monologue with jokes about how much he hates sitting through long movies, Mulaney's monologue at the Governor's Award earlier this year demonstrated a clear love of film and appreciation towards everyone who makes them. (A stark contrast from Jo Koy's hacky material at the Golden Globes not long before.) Since then, people have been wondering why Mulaney's never been invited to host the Oscars, and Mulaney's latest speech (to present the award for Best Sound) has only raised the question further. He started off with this killer bit of sarcasm:
"Without sound, we wouldn't have been able to hear such classic lines as 'You're going to need a bigger boat,' 'I'll have what she's having,' and 'He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.'"
It was hardly the first time "Madame Web" caught a stray at this year's Oscars, but it was probably the funniest one we got. Afterward, Mulaney went on to rant about "Field of Dreams," the 1989 baseball film starring Kevin Costner. The extended joke works not just because of the clear passion Mulaney has for it, a borderline-obsessive one, but because it does the always-admirable job of encouraging a new generation of viewers to check out an older film. It's like Kimmel's reference to "Taxi Driver" in his monologue, but without any cynical punchline.
A 50-second tangent on a beloved classic
Mulaney's tangent about "Field of Dreams" was a big risk for an award show that's famously on a strict schedule, but Mulaney sells it through sheer enthusiasm and specificity alone. He describes the movie's plot points in ways that make them all sound sort of baffling, but never in a way that feels too dismissive or insulting towards the people who wrote it. For Mulaney fans who love the comedian's rant about "The Mule" or "Back to the Future," this speech is right up your alley.
John Mulaney explaining the entire plot to Field of Dreams instead of presenting his category at the Oscars lol. king pic.twitter.com/5q98HfH5ur
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 11, 2024
"I love 'Field of Dreams,' — that should be Best Picture," Mulaney ends the rant with, before begrudgingly conceding that it probably makes more sense that the 2023 Best Picture winner should be a movie from 2023. Nevertheless, we appreciate Mulaney's enthusiasm for '80s movies, and his way of bringing old plots to life even for those who haven't seen the movie or have forgotten details from it in the decades that have passed.
The result was a hyper-yet-charming speech from Mulaney, one that serves as another shining example of why he'd make a great awards host. Whoever's in charge of hiring Oscar hosts, lock this man down as soon as you can, no matter how much money you have to throw at him. His energy and delivery is exactly what the Oscars need.