Dear Gossips,

The Academy confirmed this week that they’ve secured two new producers for the Oscars in February. The first order of business is to confirm a host. Or hosts. One of those producers, David Hill, told Entertainment Weekly that:

“There will be multiple hosts for sure – there will be two.”

The other producer, Reginald Hudlin, played it more coy:

“We have absolutely talked about duos. We’ve talked about a lot of different configurations. I love that David is a flamethrower, and I’m always way more secretive and tight-lipped. But we’re still very much in the brainstorming phase.”

So now everyone’s talking about who they might be talking to. The obvious: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Tina and Amy hosted the Golden Globes for their third and final time in January. And while they’ve said that they’ve no interest in doing it at the Oscars because of the perceived creative limitation, they do have a movie coming out in December called Sisters. And it does suit the timing.

As much as I love that idea, I’m not sure if the Oscars should be following the Golden Globes. It’s the Oscars. They sell themselves as the biggest deal. Maybe that’s why Neil Patrick Harris didn’t work out this year. Because the Oscars were borrowing from the Emmys and the Tonys when they should have been establishing their own sh-t.

This is the new game then. Aside from Tina and Amy…which two?

Entertainment Weekly suggested Key & Peele. Great idea. They’re amazing. But I don’t know if they’re at the level of recognition yet. So here’s a good one (at least I think so), even if it’s not that original: Kevin Hart and Ice Cube? Have you seen Ride Along? Ride Along 2 comes out in January. I loved that bit they did with Conan in a Lyft car. Or maybe bring back Chris Rock, who hosted in 2005, with Kevin Hart. Chris predicted at the time that he wouldn’t be invited back. He was right. It wasn’t the right room for him. Actors, so precious, so sensitive. That hasn’t changed but the internet and social media has made the audience much more snarky now.

Speaking of snarky then, what would an Amy Schumer-Kevin Hart pairing look like? Amy broke out this year. Her friend Jennifer Lawrence would be in the audience, available for pre-taped sketches.

If those don’t work for you, how about a Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart combination? Jon hosted a few years ago too…and, like Chris Rock, wasn’t as well received as he would have hoped. But pairing him with Colbert, with their chemistry, it’s kind of irresistible, non?

But maybe the couple that makes the most sense for the Academy though, because these are people who’ve been shown to move slowly, and shocking them just results in them digging their heels in even deeper, are Will Ferrell and Justin Timberlake. I’m not JT’s biggest fan, as you know, because his MEEEEE is always getting in the way of his talent, but this is how you bring that down – if he’d actually agree to share, which I think he would, with Will. 

We could spend all day on this. Let me know your thoughts.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey