In a move that proves someone at the Academy actually understands comedy, Matt Berry - the gloriously deadpan voice behind What We Do in the Shadows' Laszlo Cravensworth - has been tapped to announce the 98th Academy Awards. Yes, that Matt Berry. The one whose baritone could make a grocery list sound like a Shakespearean soliloquy.
This is, without exaggeration, the best Oscars-related decision the Academy has made in years. Maybe decades. Berry's voice - simultaneously pompous and self-aware, theatrical yet intimate - is the perfect antidote to the Oscars' perpetual identity crisis between stuffy institution and desperate-to-be-relevant awards show.
For the uninitiated (and if you are, go watch Toast of London immediately), Berry is a British comedian, actor, and musician whose entire career has been an exercise in puncturing pretension while somehow being more sophisticated than everyone else in the room. He's Steven Toast, the hilariously deluded actor. He's Douglas Reynholm from The IT Crowd. He's that vampire who thinks he invented topiary. And now he'll be the voice telling you that Cillian Murphy just won Best Actor.
The pairing with host Conan O'Brien is inspired. O'Brien is sharp and self-deprecating; Berry is grandiose and absurd. Together they represent a refreshing acknowledgment that the Oscars work best when they don't take themselves too seriously. Film is important, yes, but the ritual of celebrating film doesn't have to be a cathedral service.
Imagine Berry intoning, in that magnificent voice, "And the Oscar goes to..." with just enough ironic gravitas to make everyone wonder if he's in on the joke or is the joke. That's the sweet spot, and Berry lives there.
This also represents a broader trend in how award shows are evolving. The days of anonymous, neutral announcers are over. Audiences want personality, want to feel like there are actual humans involved in the production rather than just a teleprompter and a tuxedo. brings personality by the boatload.
