Do Go On - 4 - The Academy Awards

Episode Date: November 17, 2015

Get ready to smash the movie round of your next pub quiz, because Dave Warneke has a report on the film industry's night of nights... The Academy Awards. How did they start? Who picks the winners? Who's won the most awards? How did Whoopie Goldberg lose her statue? And who the hell is Oscar? Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Welcome to Do Go on the podcast where we talk about something that we find interesting. When I say we, I mean me, Dave Warnocky, and I'm here with my co-hosts Jess Perkins. Hello, Dave. Hello, Jess.

And of course, we are joined by the bearded weirdo himself, Mr. Matt Stewart. Hey, how's it going? Skinny Boy? Pro-lady. I thought we should give context to this before we recorded this podcast. We ran into our good comedy bud, Nick Kappa. Who asked if we were going to call the show Skinny Boy, which is my nickname, quite thin.

Crow Lady, which is Jess. Because they're smart and they know how to use tools, apparently. According to Kappa, yeah, I'm like a pro. And Matt, the bearded weirdo because you have a beard and you're a little off centre. Which I like it. I think it's catchy. It's concise, which is good.

That's right. It's not as concise as do go on six letters. Yeah. Skinny Boy, Crow, Lady, and the... the bearded weirdo. I don't know what sort of Twitter handle we'd have for that. The acronym would be terrible. Yeah.

Or if we're being factually accurate, the initialism. Do you know the difference between an acronym and an initialism? I guess an acronym is different to an initialism. That's correct. In some way. Very good. What's the difference? So an acronym is where it spells out a word, like FIFA, the World Cup.

and initialism is when you say it out loud. So you'd say FI-F-A. We haven't even started yet and I'm already learning. There you go. I felt like because we claim it to be a fact-based podcast. I should not call it an acronym when it's not. Yeah, well that's in a... I did not know that.

I did not know that either. And there we go. Learning and growing together, which is what we do on this show and we take it in terms to prepare a class report, if you will, on one topic. And in long form, sort of prepare the report and discuss it with the other two people

who don't know what the topic is going to be and this week it is my turn to research something and we always start with a question my question to both of you, Crow lady, bearded weedy. Bearded weedy. They should be beady weedy, but anyway, my question to start off my report is

what do you think is the world's most prestigious entertainment award? Logies. I've got written here Please don't say the Australian TV week Logies Nah, come on It's my dream to win a Logie Is it really?

No I reckon you could get there one day Because You could have to get on TV Step one, step one, step two Just get your friends to vote in the TV week Oh yeah That's because it's a popularity contest

It's not really based on talent It's popularity Well I think there's a split actually If we're going to be accurate again There are some popular voted categories but there are also some industry Okay, because I was going to say, what about most popular? That's a popular.

Most popular according to a panel of five people. Then there's most excellent. Oh, no, that's Bill and Ted. What is it? And now, the bogus journey award goes to. Okay, awards. So entertainment awards. So you're putting aside your book.

I was going to say Dalie M's. I mean, rugby league's pretty entertaining. I mean, obviously the. Acras are quite big, Australian Commercial Radio Awards. The antennas, the community TV awards. Yeah, yeah.

We're not, is it Australian? It is definitely not Australia. It is definitely not Australia. Well, it would be an American then. So the big ones, right? The big ones, it's going to be either the Grammys,

the, what are the ones? Emmys. Emmys, what are the stage ones? The Tonys. Tony's. Or the big, the Oscars. Oscars. Boom, we have it.

We are there. I think the Academy Awards or the Oscars. as they are more commonly known, I think are probably the most famous award in the world of entertainment. Second only to the Logies, but do go on. Okay, but do go on. Well, if we exclude Australian television popularity-based awards, then I think the academies are up there.

And so I've just looked into the Academy Awards, how they came about and how they happen each year. Because this episode, I'm going to be honest, it's less story-based than other ones we've done and more. Just chock full of facts. It's a fact-based one. Because I've got to tell you, as a trivia guy, a guy that writes trivia questions, the Academy Awards are like a dream topic because you can ask so many questions about them

because there's so many different individual facts about who won this, who won that, what movie was nominated for this kind of thing. And let's be honest, people like movies. People like movies. So this is it. If you want to smash your next pub quiz, listen up to this episode of Do Go On. This is it. So way back in 1927.

A good year. Oh, what a great year. 1927. I reckon my grandmother might have been born in that year. No, 1926. Oh, close. I can't think of any facts about 1927. I'm so sorry.

Well, did you know that in 1927, MGM co-founder and studio chief Louis B. Mayor, he's the Mayor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which is MGM. It's the biggest movie studio in the world at the time because those three different people. Metro, Goldman and Mayor came together. and this guy Louis B. Mayor spoke at a dinner about organising a group to benefit the film industry. So he wanted to create an organisation that would both mediate labour dispute between everyone and improve the industry's overall image. So it's funny to think, 1927, not such a good year in the end because the Hollywood wanted to improve their image

and at the same time the Academy probably just started so they could screw people over with labour disputes. Great. Yay. So they also established that the membership into this organization would only be open to people involved in one of five branches of the industry. What do you think of the five branches? Like performing? Yeah, actors. Yes, actors is one of them.

Directors. Yes, that's number two. Producers. Yes, three of five. Catering. Well, technicians. Oh, okay. Catering technicians.

Technical catering. Fifth. It would be last. I was thinking like music, like scoring. Not people that write music, but people that write. Oh, the writers. That's right. That's right.

That's so bad. That should be the... Three writers, like, to not have thought of writers. So it's... Thanks, Jess. It's actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers. No labourers allowed. Get out of here.

Laborers and jerks. You're just doing all the hard. No one needs you. A week later, this is still in 1927, 36 invitees, including actors, directors, producers, writers, and a couple of lawyers, dined at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel to hear a proposal to found the International Academy of Motion, Picture, Arts and Sciences. So these 36 people became the founders of the organisation.

Sorry, a dinner party with 36 people. It's pretty big, right? That's a pretty big... It's a long table. You'd have to make a reservation for that one. Table for 36. I have a feeling they may have booked out the entire establishment. I think so, yeah, fair enough.

Ooh. La de da. This is the days before, like, gluten intolerances and stuff, so everyone was just eating the same meal, I can tell you that. Is one of those 36 Oscar? No, there is no Oscar part of the 36, but we will get to Oscar. And his or her. No, I'm just trying to make it more sensationalized than it is.

We'll get to the significance later on. So they found at the International Academy of Motion. Picture Arts and Sciences. They later dropped the international part, and it just became the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that we know today. And then the next year in 1928 had another dinner party.

I don't know that. It was just suggested that some awards of merit be given out in 12 categories to people involved in making films. They wanted to give themselves a bit of a pat on the back. Just fine. It was one of the categories best writer. No, but best caterer was definitely there.

Best roast chicken. Then the next year in 1929, so a couple of years have gone past since the first idea came out. The first Academy Awards were held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There were 270 guests, so the dinner party's gotten even bigger. They each paid $5 to go along, which these days is about $70. So still pretty damn cheap to go to the Academy Awards. The ceremony was hosted by actor and then Academy President, Douglas. Billy Crystal.

You can't get through talking about the Academy Awards. I don't know why. I'm so sorry. Everyone, is that a thing? That's a thing. Is there Billy Crystal references in this thing? Well, he has hosted the second most amount of Academy Awards. Who would be the most?

Do you know the most? What are we going to get to that? I can just tell you out. I reckon it is. It's an American comedian. Is it in our life? Actually, no, an English-born, but very famous American comedian. Was it, is it in recent times?

Because the guy's famous for his work, entertaining, American troops. It's often paraded with the golf club. Yeah. Bob Hope. Bob Hope. That's right. He's hosted 19.

Wow. 19. That's crazy. So that would have been before Billy's Day. Billy's Day. And I think Billy's done about nine. So also, that's a lot,

right? But considering he's seconds and Bob Hope did 19 and that's 10 more than Billy's so. That's a lot. So many. That's crazy. They kind of rotate it now. No one's really.

No one gets like a 10-year. of like five years in a row or anything. Lately, anyway. But, oh, Billy Crystal did it again, like in 2012 or something, so he's still, like, get him back every now and then to have another go. So he could get there, could get to the 19th. I believe in him. The first ever Academy was hosted by Douglas Fairbanks,

who was a swashbuckling actor of the time. And the weirdest part about the first one is that the winners were announced three months earlier. What? So there was like a notice board, like, yes, you have, won the first ever Academy Award. It does kind of ruin the surprise. It takes a little bit of the fun out of it.

And was this, did you say it's 1928? 1929, by this time. Yeah, because they had the idea in 28. They did it later. That's right. So it took a bit of time to put it together. Sure. 15 awards were given out,

honoring film industries, people's work over the previous two years. So these days, it's over one calendar year, two years. And in total, the ceremony ran for 15 minutes. What? That was it. So we think these days that people's speeches get cut off quickly.

Imagine that you'd be like, I'd like to thank the And You're Off music plays. They probably didn't even do speeches, did they? So $5 seemed pretty cheap, but $5 for a 15-minute gig back in 1929 was probably pretty expensive. And the following year, the winners weren't announced publicly beforehand. So they decided that that was a bit of a strange idea. Three months as a while, though. I feel like you might almost forget again. Yeah, oh sorry, did I win that?

Yeah. Yeah. Three months. That's, what a weird decision. And also, the awards didn't even exist yet, so would you even be that excited? Like, you'd like, you'd see it, like, published in the newspaper winner of the Academy Emotion Picture Arts and Sciences Entertainment Award. You'd be like, what's that? Yeah.

Sounds stupid. It'd still be like, oh, that's nice, I guess. Yeah. But it's not that big a deal. Good on your Douglas Fairbanks. But anyway, the following year, they didn't announce it publicly, but for a long time, they were given to newspapers at 11 p.m. on the night before the awards so they could at the night of the awards so they could publish them in the newspaper the next day.

And this continued until 1940 when the Los Angeles Times published the list before the ceremony. So they got a little bit earlier and they threw it out there and that ruined the surprise completely. And I'm surprised that it took 10 years for journalists to break that rule. And from then on, the awards were kept secret as they are today and announced from within a sealed envelope. How does the winner get in there? You know, like, it's a sealed envelope, but someone has to write it at some point. Yeah, I was going to ask, I wonder how many people actually know. They're pretty discreet about that kind of information.

So they do maintain that it is a big. Someone has a blindfold on, gets a pen in their hand, and someone whispers it in their ear, and they write it, for some reason they get a blindfold. Yeah, they don't need to be blindfold. And then they knock them out. So one by one, it takes a lot of people and a lot of concussions to get the secrecy. I also imagine just cutting out letters from the newspaper, like a sort of serial killer-style note. Like a ransom note.

So, like, I'm in charge of S's, Jess does all the P's. You're told how many, like, there's one person that knows them all. You're like, all right, Jess, we're going to need four P's this year. Matt, five Ds from you and one X. And everyone's like, ooh, Zina Warrior Princess is one at a war. Just the one. Just the one. So the awards continued on.

They were adding awards to the initial ones. They're adding awards for costume, best documentary, best foreign language film, that kind of stuff. The ceremony was first televised across the US and Canada in the 50s in 1953. They were first televised in color in 1966

and first broadcast internationally in 1969. So same year as the moon landing. And the telecast now reaches over 200 countries. Two interesting times it was, postponed. It was 1968. The Oscars were postponed for two days out of respect for Martin Luther King Jr. who had been assassinated a few days before the scheduled ceremony, a lot of respects for him. Wow. The awards were postponed again in 1981, this time for 24 hours because of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Wow. There go. Obviously, also a famous actor in his day as well,

so that's why I think they decided to postpone the award. But the most interesting thing for me was, So I look at the articles about who's won what and I write questions about that kind of stuff but I had no idea how the awards are actually chosen. I wasn't sure if it was like a TV week, Gold Logie style thing where people vote or if it's won Overlord. Do you guys have any idea?

I think it's, I'm pretty sure it's all the members of the academy. It's just like a big group of... That's right. Is that right? Well, they always thank the academy. Yeah. They think the academy? Well, it turns out it is the academy.

And are they all just, is it just everyone? who's, it's like all the actors and stuff? Well, do you want to know? Well, you've got, why don't, how about I stop guessing? You just tell me. I will tell you. Why don't I stop wasting everyone's fucking time? Let me answer your questions with some pre-researched information.

All right. So the Academy, as you are both correct, they choose the award. And guess how many members of the Academy there are? I reckon, it's all the actors and directors and everything. If that's what it is, which Dave hasn't confirmed yet. but I'd say, if that's the case, maybe 500. 500 for Matt? I would say more.

Right. Well, but I don't know how you get into the Academy. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Is it invitation only? Do you just apply online and pay your registration fee? You go into the green card lottery. Yeah. Past winners only, maybe.

Oh, God. But then you just keep getting more and more. Or you just keep giving yourselves the awards. Is it higher or lower than 500? I was going to say a thousand. Really? A thousand? It is 6,000. approximately 6,000 people,

according to a February 2012 study conducted by the Los Angeles Times, which sampled 5,000 of its 6,000 members, so most of the members. The Academy is made up of 94% white people. It's 77% male, and 86% aged 50 years or older. The median age of an Academy member

is 62 years old. So it's pretty much our dad's voting for the Academy Awards every year. And then we wonder why there isn't a whole lot of cultural diversity amongst winners. I know. It's just crazy. Because things like popular entertainment, like pop culture stuff, that is a thing of the youth, right? Yeah, absolutely. And it's probably something similar with the Grammys and stuff,

because they're always, like, Paul McCartney, who seems to win an award every year still for his new releases. It's just people being nostalgic. So it's quite strange that that's not a more diverse group who are picking such an important. I know. How do you become a member of the Academy? Well, so it's a lot of, if you are a former winner, you're invited to join the Academy. And I think if you are also high up in the film industry, you can also be one.

You're invited, though? Everyone gets to vote. These 6,000 people get to vote on who gets the Academy Awards. But I don't think it's not a compulsory vote like here in Australia. You're not going to be sent to fine in the mail or go to jail for not turning up. Weird. So it's 6,000 people voting, but there are different categories. So to start off with, the first stage is narrowing, narrowing down the thousands of movies that get released each year to five nominees for each category.

The exception here is Best Picture, which since 2009 has gone from five nominees to 10 nominees. So this year, for example, there were 10 films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. And before we get into how films are voted upon, to be even considered you've got to tick a lot of boxes. So the film has to be more than 40 minutes long, unless it's in the short film category. 40 minutes. That doesn't seem very long, does it? I'm disappointed if I go to the movies and it says runtime 90 minutes. I'm like, well, it's paid $20 for an hour and a half.

I could go see bloody Titanic or something over here for three and a half hours. Come on. Strap in. It's sad that most direct to DVD, Stephen Seagal movies even go for 85 minutes. So that would even qualify. The movie's public premiere must have been in a movie theatre during the previous calendar year So that's how they work it out for what film qualifies for what year

And you can't just be like guys Men in Black was pretty good I think we should reconsider it Like it has to be last year Yeah You get your one year and then you miss it out And what counts as a movie theatre Yeah I was gonna say

Like you've got a big studio out the back here with a projector No no no Well like what about long play in North Kent I'm afraid not Oh Because it must have played in the movie in an LA County Theatre for paid admission for seven consecutive days. So all Stevens and a Girl films are suddenly out.

So seven days in a row. And I think it would suck like if you scheduled in your seven days and then there was some sort of natural disaster or something that presented the, like prevented people getting into the cinema on the seventh days. Suddenly it's all out. Our producers must submit an official screen credits online form before the deadline. And if it's not submitted before the deadline,

it'll be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year. Is there a fee for that? I do not believe that there is a fee. It seems, I always find that funny that you have to nominate yourself for awards. Yeah. It is funny to think that it's probably someone's job to, like those massive critically acclaimed film

and so on one still has to go online and fill out like a Google dog. Why my film should be chosen for the Academy Award for Best Editing, The guy, Matt Stewart, worked really, really hard. He was in the studio for like seven days every week, which is every day. You see that bit? It was like day and then the second later was night.

That was all editing, man. Yeah, wow. We didn't even use like those predetermined star wipe crosses on Final Cut. We invented a few transitions. It was great editing. Then in late December of each year, ballots and copies of the list of eligible releases are mailed out to our 6,000 active Academy Award members.

And for most categories, members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees only in their own respective field. For example, only directors vote for best director, writers vote for best screenwriting, actors for acting best boys on who are the actual best boy in the film industry. You're the best boy here, Dave. Thank you. Because I'm a man.

You're a man. And I'm a lady. You're a crazy crow lady. You're a beardy, weedy. No. He can't do it, can he? It's bea-weed-do. Bearded weirdo.

Oh, you've fucked up your own name. You all fuck it up. Now, an academy member can select five nominees per category, so ranked in order from one to five. That's the preference. So one vote, bird man, two votes. Yeah. Two story three.

Imagine if they just read them out, Brownlow Metal style. All six thousand. Six thousand of them. Five votes. Because some would be very short because obviously there's, there'd be less costume people than there would be actors. Yeah. But there would be...

And then it gets to the final one. They have to read out all 6,000 people that voted for the main category. I would love that. Is there a record, like a public record of the votes? Or is that all secret? No, it's all kept in secret. That's right. I'd love to see who got one vote from the 6,000.

There'd be some movies that you'd just never expect. There would be a spreadsheet out there, I reckon, that you could hit like rank by vote. There'd be someone at the bottom. Stephen Segal. Stephen Segal. Underseach two, one vote. And it's from Stephen Segal.

Yeah, he's in the academy somehow. He voted himself. Yeah, he's got in there. There are some exceptions in the case of certain categories, like foreign film, best documentary, best animated feature film, movies are selected by special screening committees made up of members from all branches.

Foreign film nominees are selected from a list of films submitted by foreign nations. And what I found really interesting about this is every foreign country can only submit one film per year. What? So like everyone in Thailand is to get together and be like, all right, what was the best Thai film this year? What's our best shot at winning? Wow. So they get all these movies and every other country gets one. That's right.

It's like the best Hindi film or the best Mandarin film. But if you speak English, you can be in any of the other categories. but you can you can still be in Best Picture if you're a foreign language film? Yes, yes, and some things have been nominated for Best Picture and being in another language. Yeah. Do we, are we a foreign film?

Like, do we submit movies for foreign films? I think it might be in a language other than English. Right. I know, the best Australian film of the year. Yeah. I think that would, that would... It would be Red Dog every year. Well, no, this year it's a different dog.

Blue Dog. Bluey. There's a big Australian movie out now that's about a dog again. I saw that. It looks like a white dog on the photo. Yeah, we do dog movies. Oddball.

Oddball, in brackets, white dog. Yeah. What would happen, right? If a foreign language nation, like, well, obviously not foreign to themselves, but foreign language to America, like Thailand say,

do a silent film. What categories that in? Do you have that written down your notes? Skinny boy? Well, the other. Artis was a silent film and that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, so that took it out. That's interesting, but... It wasn't the question.

That wasn't the question. Thanks for squeezing in effect. I love Matt just rolled his eyes so well. He just does so many visual gags. Your face needs to have a live web stream. Just your face. No one needs to see the crow or skinny boy. No, because we're expressive in our voices.

That's right. Expression! What do you mean, Jeff? What do you mean by that? Our 6,000 members have two weeks to submit their nominees. So they can think about it. They get a bit of time. And if you're like, shit, I haven't seen that film.

Better go stream that on Netflix. And once the ballots are all in, the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, which is the biggest accounting firm in the entire world. Another fact for you. They work out who gets the most votes. And they've been tied to the academy for decades. So it's been their job to work it out,

which is a pretty exciting job if you're a pretty boring accountant. Yeah. Like it'd be the one time of the year they can do something interesting. Well, I mean, it sounds interesting, but at the end of the day, if you think about it, it's still numbers and a spreadsheet. It's just that it says Birdman instead of tax. Yeah. That's pretty much it.

Yeah. Oh, God. What is it at life? So a week or so later, the Academy mails final ballots out to all the Academy members. So it's like, all right, we've got our top five has been selected. You get to vote against. So it's pretty tedious. You have to vote twice.

Hey, sorry, can I, do you mind if interrupt again? I was just wondering, and I've forgotten the question, so I'm just talking a little bit now as my brain tries to catch up with me. Yes, that was it. Here it is. Do all the Academy members, they have to watch all the eligible films? It's not like a compulsory thing, but they do put on free screenings that you can go and see them. So you could potentially just watch your mates films.

Yeah, that was the best one. Yeah, well, because I think there's, I mean, like, I said, like thousands of films are submitted. So the bigger the film, the more likely it is to win. Yeah, because then they would have... So the best film may not have been seen. But having said that, I'm pretty sure that like any sort of industry, there's buzz around certain films.

Like, hey, did you see... Like, for example, a film nominated last year, or for the Academy War this year, like Whiplash would have only made like $20 million at the box office, which is not very much. Good movie. Yeah, in comparison to Transformers 5, which made a billion dollars. Yeah. But at the same time, Transformers didn't get in.

So I think people, obviously, they talk. Yeah. I didn't even notice at the time, but that's a stunning omission. Isn't it? Transformers 5 slash 6, I don't even know. Can't even know. So then they have another two weeks to return the ballot. Do you reckon Pricewaterhouse Cooper's has to call up?

Like, hey Nicole, Kidman. Yeah. Just waiting on that ballot. If you wouldn't mind. If you wouldn't mind. If you want to fax it over, that's fine. Do you have a fax? Do you still have a fax?

you may. I think you're kidding yourself there. It wouldn't be, hello Nicole Kimmel. It would be, hello Nicole Kidman's assistant. Can you just get Nicole? And let's be honest, often the assistant is probably the one who's filling out the ballot anyway. And then press Waterhouse Coopers then tabulates,

which is a great word, the votes in absolute secrecy and then seals the results. So they chuck them in those envelopes. That's where the blindfolding concussion thing is. That's right. At this stage, it looks like only accountants know, which is pretty awesome. I wonder how many.

accountants. Like it's not, it's a too big a job for one guy to do, but there wouldn't be hundreds of them, you know, it'd be like a small little group. Like a little board room? Do you think they have like a little jury room

where they sort of, they have to stay in a hotel and then they're allowed overnight while they deliberate the, not that they're voting themselves, but they, so they don't tell friends, and you're not allowed to talk about

the awards. Because there is a lot of, at home with your family. There's a lot of cash on the line with like gambling and stuff, right? Probably. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, people do bet on the awards.

And it'd be like the one, the one time in their sad, miserable lives. I would just like to say that I respect and love all accountants, but please go on. No, this is my opinion only. But the only light in their, again, sad, miserable lives, where they get to go home and their wives say, how's your day, honey? And he has to be like, can't talk about it.

That's exciting, you know? Do you have an accountant, Jess? No. I look forward to the day when they're saving you or... Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm kidding. And actually, one of my oldest friends works for Pricewaterhouse Cooper as well. Oh, really?

Yeah. Your oldest friend, Jonathan Cooper. Yeah, do you know him? Oh, yes. Is he a thousand years old? Wow, that is an old friend. No, no. Accountants are cool.

We need them. I just like to, you know, I'm jealous in a way because they're doing stuff with their lives. So that's right, they're not. Stop backtracking. This is way less fun. Yeah, okay. I hate them. Hate them all.

Well, I respect the accountants because they are doing, it sounds like, It sounds like a pretty fair process. Check out those suck up over here. And yeah, Dave, it sounds like a fair and kind of cool process for one event. And then the rest of the year they just do bass statements. No, I'm not trying to talk about accountants here. I'm trying to posit the theory that, oh, the Academy Awards, it sounds pretty a fair and just system where everyone, these 6,000 people are voting,

despite the fact that they are like 90% males over 50. But that sounds pretty fair, right? Yeah. Well, film companies will spend up to 6,000. That's right. This is the story Anglo is going for. The butt. It sounds fair, but film companies will spend up to several million dollars trying to get

Academy members' votes. So they take out ads in industry magazines. They organise private screenings of films and they get people to come along. So it's not as clear cut as you would think. Yeah, I was thinking that before, because when you were saying like there's a bit of buzz around and there are people in the industry, you know

that the directors of the films that are nominated would sort of be like, Hey, remember that time? Your car broke down, and I came right. Your limo broke down and I came around with my limo and you got in the back of my limo. And I shared my champagne. You did you remember? It was a great time and then we laughed at all the poor people in the world. Yeah.

Do you remember that? Oh, how we laughed. So, how about that little gold statue that everyone gets? Well, it is officially called the Academy Award of Merit. That's what all the little statue guys are called. Merit, that's what people give you when you tried hard. A Merit Award. Well, they did, didn't they?

Oh, that's true. Yeah, fair enough. They did try hard. So that little guy is made of gold-plated Britannium. Britannium. Britanium. On a black metal base, it is 34 centimetres tall, or 13.5 inches, and weighs 3.85 kilos. They're individually numbered, electro-plated in copper, nickel, silver, and then 24-carat gold.

So long story short, you could probably beat someone to death with it. Wow. Have you ever heard of it? accept it. Is that on the periodic table? Britannium? I don't think it is. Dave knows these things.

He writes trivia questions about the periodic table periodically. I don't know. There's so many weird ones. Oh, I'm going to look it up. I don't even know. So Britannia is a metal. So it's 92% tin, 6% antimony, which is on the periodic table.

And 2% copper. So there you go. It's an alloy made of several things to put together. Antimony, of course, being the opposite. of pro moni. I couldn't even... Take a bell. I loved my own joke.

Sorry. Is promone a thing? No. See, that would have worked. Okay, look. But you still get it. It's still pretty funny. It's a thinker.

So they're gold. They're pretty expensive stuff, right? But in support of the American war effort in World War II, the statuettes were made of plaster. And then you could trade them in for a gold one after. after the war. That's my... Smart play. The winner gets their name engraved on it,

so they used to have to give them back at the end of the night to get their name put on it. But these days, you have the option of getting them engraved on the night. So you win it. Matt Damon gets his award, then he takes it backstage, and then so on it. Imagine if they misspell, you know.

They're not even pre-engraved. No, because then people who would be walking past the statues and go, well, looks like Ben Affleck's going to win one tonight. Good on him. What world is this that you live in? Ben Afflex winning him, Matt Damon. Do they actually win awards? Yes.

Ben Afflex won. Ben Afflex won two. Really? Yes. Twice Academy Award. Well, that's good. And Matt Damon is one. Pop stars really won them normally.

He's not in Bardo. A reference to a great 2000s pop group from Australia. My goodness. Which Ben Affleck totally would have been in it if he'd auditioned. Sophie Monks. Exactly. Stop talking about it. I'm going to do an entire report about them next week.

Great. So this statuette for the Academy was depicts a knight. I love that. A knight rendered it an Art Deco style holding a Crusader's sword. Do you know it was holding a sword? No. Standing on a reel of film and that reel has five spokes, each representing the original branches of the Academy.

So there's a spoke for actors, writers, directors, producers and technicians. What is the sword symbol of? The caterers, the lawyers, the best boys. This did not get... Key grips. Stuff them. Did not get a spoke. I suppose they're all technicians.

The award was derived by... designed, I should say, by Cedric Gibbons, a founding academy member and chief art director at MGM, who went on to win 11 Oscars himself... Between 1929 and 1957. So he got a lot of his own statues back. That's a lot of Oscars, too. Good for him.

Okay, Matt. I hear you asking, why is it called Oscar about 30 minutes ago? Well, relax. Did you hear me ask, like, 30 seconds ago, why? Do you know what the sword symbolises? Oh, just a powerful Art Deco symbol. He's so grateful for your information. Art Deco being a very popular style of the 1920s when it was conceived.

Right. Love Art Deco. Matt, I can hear you asking, why is it called Oscar? Well, relax, because I will reveal all. Well, I say reveal all, but the origin story is very disputed. I've kind of lost interest, actually, so you can move on, if you like. Jess, this is for you. Thanks, Dave.

A biography of Betty Davis claims that she, claim that she named the Oscar after her first husband, who was a band leader, Harmon Oscar Nelson. The Harmon Awards, not as good. I know. The Oscar sounds much better than the Harmon or the Nelson. No, Nelson's pretty good. In his career, he won 11 Nelson's.

Did he look a bit like the statue? Well, this was just in her biography, but Betty Davis has big ties to the Oscar. She also became the first female president of the Academy and also the shortest-lived president after resigning after two months. So thank you for your service, Betty. Another claimed origin is that the Academy's executive secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the... Wait, hang on.

At that time when she quit, the headline the next day was, Betty Davis' eyes off a different job. I like how I pretty much read an entire paragraph and then he made the job. My brain was kicking over very slowly, but it was worth it. I think you'll all agree. Feel free to edit that out as well. No, no, no, no. Keep that in.

Some of Matt's best comedy. No, that was absolutely golden. Another claimed origin story for the Oscar is the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuettes reminding her of her Uncle Oscar, which was a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce. So it wasn't even her uncle. It was her cousin. What?

She called her cousin Uncle Oscar. It's very, very strange. But the Academy officially dubbed it the Oscar in 1939. So it's very disputed, but there's also a reference to Walt Disney calling it Oscar in the early 30s. It's confusing. So Matt, I hope that that answered your question. It doesn't at all. So there they don't really know.

There's a few ideas, but nobody... It's one of those things. Wow. I love it. It's like, yeah, I named the Oscars after my husband at the time's middle name. Yeah. Well, that sounds like a thing that definitely didn't happen. Betty Davis, your clown?

Get out of here. I'm fairly sure that it wasn't, it's not, it wasn't an autobiography, though. It was a biography, so this is someone else writing about her. Possibly making up. Now I want to know where the name the Logies comes from. Oh, that's John Logie. John Logie Baird. That's right.

Okay. He invented the. Television. Oh, okay, that makes perfect sense. Okay, great. It's a horrible name, but yeah. It's not great. They weren't going to call them the John Awards, though,

because that means toilets overseas, that's why. But Logie is so close to what? Lurgy or bogey? It's an ugly word. It's not a great sound. Also could have been named after Betty Davis's second husband, John Lokey. I don't know.

I don't know. Biography is about her claim all kinds of stuff, apparently. I bet they do. All right, so how about selling a statue? So since 1950, the Oscar statue themselves have been awarded with the legal requirement that neither the statuettes winners nor their heirs may sell it without first offering to sell it back to the academy for $1. Great rule.

So if the winner refuses this clause, then they forfeit the win. But there are a bunch of statues given out before 1950, right? So in 2011, Orson Wells, 1941 Oscar 4, Citizen-Cubes. Kane, which was an award for Best Original Screenplay, was put up for auction after his heirs won a court decision contending that Wells won the award before the $1

agreement and that they're allowed to do whatever they like with it. So they decided not to return it to the Academy and they sold it for $861,000 US dollars. Oh my God. So a lot of money. That's insane. A couple of other people have been able

to sell their Oscars, but obviously they're even rarer than they would be because they have to be before 1950. Michael Jackson bought the best picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind for $1.5 million. Wow, which is just pocket money for him? I know. He was just crazy. There are a couple of huge awards as well.

Yeah. Both of those films are still always topping the greatest all-time list, right? So the point... Yeah, yeah, that's right. So they're two massive things. So they're trying to... I'm trying to understand why they would do it like that so that... I understand they don't want people.

people to sell them. That's fine. But you've got to offer to sell it back for a dollar. It means that no one's ever going to do it. Because it's like, well... You can't, because if you offer to sell it back, they'll say, oh, you're going to sell it, great, we'll have it back for a dollar rather than you're selling it to it. So basically, he's just saying you can't sell it, but there mustn't have been a way that they could just say you can't sell it at all. Yeah, so it's just a legal clause. Remember those two lawyers at the start? Yeah. Doing pretty well. Fascinating. Two-time Best Director winner, Stephen Spielberg. Speaking of Betty Davis,

I know the name, yeah. He bought, brings about. What were it to? Do you know what he wanted? Saving Private Ryan. No, I don't know it. Ever heard of that? Got to be a different one.

Matt Day. And Shins List. Oh, yeah, great. He bought... Small independent films. Betty Davis, well, he bought... They are very small independent films. He bought Betty Davis's 1938 best actress statue for her film in Jezebel,

then returned it to the Academy. So he didn't want some collector having it. Oh, that's cool. Wow. And weird, I guess. But cool. I don't know how I feel that. I don't have an opinion. I'm sorry.

Extremely wealthy magician David Copperfield has kept the best director's statuette awarded to Michael Curtis for Casablanca, and he paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars for it in 2003. So these are all very famous films. That's another big one, yeah. All owned by very wealthy people. In 1992, Harold Russell became the only actor to ever sell a statue when he sold his 1946 award for Best Supporting Actor in the film,

the best years of our lives. He sold the Oscar to help pay medical bills for his sick wife. And it was controversial at the time that he sold it. Which I think is completely fine. Yeah, seriously. I think it's sad that he had to sell his Oscar to try. Well, he pretty much said, hey, I've still got the memories. I want to keep my wife alive.

I don't need this little gold statue. I can get a lot of money for it. Yeah, he's still an Oscar winner. He just doesn't have the piece of it. Yeah, I agree. That's sad that he had to, but it's not sad that he did it. I think it's great that he was able to sell something. Yeah, true.

Did she pull through? Well, I mean, I think they're both very, very old now. So it's still a lot. If not dead. Stop playing with my emotions. I'm so sorry. Some people have lost their Oscars too. Oh, no.

In 2002, Whoopi Goldberg. Classic Whoop. Four-time Academy Award host. She's the most, the lady that's hosted the most. She's won an Academy Award. Oh, yes, she's won an Egot. Do you know what that is? Yes.

When you win an Emmy, a Grammy. and Oscar and a Tony. She's done it. See, um... What? All... Whoopi Goldberg?

Yeah. Yeah, she's amazing. Very talented. Was it for the one where she played basketball with a dog? I know. It was, um... Is that a real movie? She won her best supporting actress for Ghost.

Oh, yeah. That was a good movie. Jeffrey Rush jokes that he doesn't have a Grammy, but he has the other, so he has a toe. Very good, Jeffrey Rush. Good on you. And he's like, oh, toe sounds like, oh, toe sounds like, Oh, Toe sounds better than Egot.

Yeah. I won't be in any Grammy stuff. I know that Whoopi won her best aborting actress for Ghosts because in 2002, she sent it back to the academy to have it cleaned and detailed, because apparently you can do that. And the Academy then sent out the Oscar to a company in Chicago that manufactures the trophies. And when it arrived back, the package... So when it arrived for cleaning, the package was empty.

And it appeared that someone had opened the box. remove the Oscar, then neatly sealed it back up and sent it on its way. It was later found in a trash can at an airport in Ontario. The Oscar was returned to the Academy who gave it back to Whoopi without cleaning it at all who said, it will never leave my house again. The perfect crime. I know.

Like, why steal it and then chuck it out? They were obviously about it busted or something. What an adventure. Was it at the airport to say? So they probably thought, I forgot about the fucking metal detector. Just throw it out. After all that effort?

It feels like they'd go, oh, this is cool. You got Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar Award. Yeah, I'm a maid of hers. I'm just taking her back to her. Oh, great. Say hi to her for me. Will do.

I will. Yeah. You get their phone out, pretend. What's that Whoopi? Yep, I'll say hi back. Yeah. And they're like, can I talk to Whoopi? No.

No. Whoop's gone. She's very important. She's won a lot of awards. She has got an Egot, you fuckhead. She doesn't. You can just talk to Egot. winners?

Oh my God. Who do you think you are? You can talk to Jeffrey Rush. He's only a toe. It's an eagot. My God, no. So you've won an award. You get up there to thank your people.

How long do you think you have to talk? 30 seconds. 30? Oh, I reckon it depends. I reckon on the big ones, they give you more. I reckon it's 15 for small ones and a minute for big ones. That is, well, you are partial credit there, Matt, for saying that it depends. These days, on average, they say.

you're supposed to get 45 seconds. 45, that's it, then they play you off. And Bill Mechanic, who's organiser of the awards, said they put in speech limits to get rid of the single most hated thing on the show, his words, which was overly long and embarrassing displays of emotion. Which, for me, isn't that the whole show? I like a funny speech more than an emotional one. Emotional speech. Yes.

I like a funny speech. Funny's good. Emotional's good. What's boring is a list of people. Yeah. Oh, yes, like producers and things you've never heard of. Listing every single person you've ever met. I mean, which I understand because, you know,

no person gets up there and wins a huge award without the help and support of a lot of people. So fair enough. But you can thank them personally. Yeah, send them an email the next day. Yeah, yeah. You're holding the statue. This one's for you. Give them a call.

But yeah, go the top few people. Like, yeah, mom, dad, husband, wife, whatever. My favorite speech was when, uh, is it a little. Logies was when Shaw McCaroff just read out an Academy Award winning speech by Lawrence Solivier from like 50 years earlier.

In person it was so good. Two of my favourite things. One was Robert Dany Jr. who thanked his wife for telling him not to bother to write a speech because he wasn't going to win anyway. And then he did win. So he's like, thanks, honey. And then my other one is when Hamish Blake won the the Gold Logie.

And he looked at the bottom of it and went, huh, not for individual sale, that's interesting. And then he goes, oh, it also says you have to thank a daddo. Which one did he choose? I think Andrew. Yeah, good choice. Good choice. You don't want Lockie.

No, I'm a bit of a Cameron man. Cameron's great. Yeah, yeah. He's the one on Smooth FM, is he? I have nothing. It's Lockheed either. Oh, the weather outside's Toasty. Why don't you keep listening to the sounds of my voice and some soulful music?

I honestly turned on to Smooth FM once in driving, and he was. was on and he said, oh, it's been a long, hard day, hasn't it? Why don't you pour yourself a nice warm bath? Slide in. Get the bubbles going. And listen to this next smooth classic. And did you? Did you do that? No, I was in the car. Otherwise, I definitely would have. But I couldn't believe it. It was like, this is, this feels like a parody of itself. Yeah. That sounds like a parody. My favorite thing would be if the person in the studio pressing the buttons was played that speech and then accidentally put on like something non-soft

like slip into the bus or if it's just like and listen to this soft soft music and then it's like like sandstorms like playing or something or it's like lead zepplin

so great so the orchestra who play music people off play the speeches they do it all live so that's not someone just on an iPod but they are playing in a studio one mile away from the ceremony that's weird

They sit there and watch on four screens in this big studio, and it's sent by these fiber optic cables. So people in the audience can hear it through speakers. That's so weird. And then we hear it at home. But yeah, so they're watching. People blame the conductor. Like I've seen people online bitching about the conductor,

but it's actually up to the directors of the ceremony as to when they start playing off the winners. So one thing that the conductor does get to do, though, is they get to name the song that they play them off in 2012. this is the best one I found. Conductor Bill Ross named it the too long song. Too long song. Nail the title.

That's so good. That's amazing. I would love to be in like the with the director. I think I've seen this video. It wasn't from the Oscars. I think it might have been from the Tonys because it was one of the ones that Neil Patrick Harris hosted. Did he host the Tonys? Oh yes, and he hosted the Oscars this year as well.

Maybe it was the Oscars. I don't remember now. I think it was actually Tonys, but it was a camera inside the control room and it was the director yelling like the camera numbers so they would change like different angles and stuff and it was amazing because it was like this big dance number, big choreographs and he's just steady like screaming numbers and you can see it all changing. It was amazing. It was so cool.

That is so awesome. It'd be an incredible job. It'd be so stressful. So stressful. You'd be like, play the song. But imagine the adrenaline too. Do you think there's any real need for it to be live? Can you even tell?

The live music. Just push it. Why not just push it? And why do they have to be... Play button on their other world. It's so dumb. It's probably more of a tradition thing. Like, I imagine it would have been live with a real orchestra pit back in the day.

I think the music seems harsh. And I thought that until I read how they did it in 1956. Mw, Mwaw! Shut down. Well, pretty much. Dorothy Malone, no, it's not pretty much. But one, best supporting actress and her speech went on for over five minutes. No, too long.

And nothing they could do could get her off. So finally, Jerry Lewis rushed out and took out his pocket watch and just swung it in front of her face until she stopped. And then probably died of embarrassment. That is pretty right. No, but really. Come on. Five minutes is a bit much.

My favorite moment of this year's Academy Awards was Paulist director, Paul Polikowski, fought the law, and he won when his Oscar speech for best foreign language film went long, and the music started playing off, and he goes, okay, okay, wrap up. he doesn't wrap up and keeps talking for so long that the music stops. He beat the music and then the crowd realized that they started applauding. So they were cheering that he beat the music. And then he went on for another 15 seconds before the music came in again. And I'll say it was actually a very, very nice speech dedicated to his family.

Again, you live with your family. Just thank him too. I'm fairly sure one of them had died. Oh, God. Why would you say that now? I'm a monster. You can't say that to them in person. But you can obviously through the Academy Awards, reach them.

Yeah, that's right. That beacon of heaven. That is the Academy Awards. There are people, like you were saying, Matt, exceptions that don't get played off. Colin Firth spoke for three minutes when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the King's Speech. But he's pretty, you know, he's pretty charismatic.

Yeah, and he was doing great. Nicole Kidman spoke for two and a half, two minutes and 20 seconds. Wait, no, I'm thinking Colin Farrell. No, Colin Farrell's the Irish one. Colin Firth is the English one. Mr. Darcy. I don't even know. I think I'm thinking of a combination of the two.

What a great guy that would be. Imagine the best bits. The best bits of Farrell and Firth. The Collins. I think I just picked Firth. Nicole Kidman spoke for two minutes and 20 seconds. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress. 20 seconds.

It's too long for Kidman. All right. I've got two last things that I want to go over there. Was it the Academy Awards that had that lady do that famous? They love me, they really love me, speech? Yeah, who said that? That was... Is it Sally Field?

Yes, Sally Field. Oh my God, it is. Field? Yeah. Sully Field, pardon me, for winning for... The Flying Nunn. Places in the Heart. And so that was an Academy Award thing?

Yes, that's an Oscar, that's right. And that gets parodied all the time, or it used to anyway. What was the point of that? Was she kidding? Or was she serious? No, she was being serious. That was why I got... Oh, that's embarrassing.

It was because it was just, like, super sincere and earnest speech about... That's how I understand. standard anyway. I might be wrong. Dave, do you go on. You have two points to make. I just wanted to talk about the other thing that I really enjoyed being brought up this year at the Academy Awards was seat fillers. Have you heard about seat fillers? Which is Neil Patrick Harris, the host, brought attention to them and sort of made fun of him that this year's 2015 awards.

He sort of called them out in front of the crowd. And it's not something exclusive to the Oscars either. Theaters around the world employ fillers for televised events so that when the camera captures an audience shot if Angelina Jolie's gone to the bathroom, that her seat next to Brad Pitt has got someone sitting in it. And I really wanted to look into this, and not many people wanted to write about the experience, but according to a report from the AV Club,

you can only get in to be a seat filler if you have a relative working for the academy, or if you work for Pricewaterhouse Coopers, accountants again, raising the roof. And then they sign non-disclosure. disclosure agreements saying they won't talk about it. So this AV Club report was an anonymous person. And I also read that some people said that they were warned that if they spoke to any

famous people, that their relative in the academy could be fired. Fired. Fired. Makes more sense. From a cannon. From a cannon. Before being beheaded by that sword from the giant Oscar statue. That's what it's for.

Don't speak to Brad Pitt. Because that's the only reason I would do it so I could like sit next to Brad Pitt and be like, hey, what if he starts a conversation with you? Sorry, Mr. Pitt. Don't talk to me. You also don't get paid to be the seat fill and I heard that's a very, very long day of standing around. Oh my God.

Why would you do it? Stuff that. I think it's mainly for the story, which is annoying because you're not allowed to talk about it. Yeah, so there's literally no reason. Having said that, I am thinking of employing some seat fillers for my 2016 comedy festival show, guys. I'll do it, Dave. Please, please fill those seats. That's just what a festival pass is, right?

Yeah, pretty much. That's what it is. Fellow comedians. The Academy Award pass. All right, I wanted to talk about... They spend money to have a big orchestra a mile up the road, but they don't pay the people who have to sit through this boring fucking show. Just so that there's no brief shots of an empty seat.

The shot would be a total of them, maybe three seconds. It feels like give them something. If it was the Golden Globes, I'd be in it. You're sitting at a table drinking champagne with Brad Pitt. No, but it's actually just sitting down and it goes for hours. Oh, that sounds like a nightmare. Three and a half hours of the ceremony. You also probably have to get there, take your seat beforehand.

My goodness, it's a long one. I think you should get a fruit basket at the least. Yeah. You get a fruit basket. Well, you don't get a fruit basket. I'm trying to save you for a seat filler. But if you are at the Academy Awards and you're nominated, you've probably heard that people get free stuff, a show bag. If there's anyone that needs free stuff, it's actors and directors.

And we're not talking like Royal Melbourne show bag. We're talking the good stuff. I'm talking the good stuff. Do the seat fillers get a, they don't get the show bag? Surely they're the ones you should get the show bag. Well, the show bag this year, it's a tradition that started in the 1970s. It's becoming increasingly lavish. And nominees for Best Actor or Best Actress, Best Director Oscars,

they received a gift bag that was valued at over $120,000. This year's bag, this is some of the best items included. $20,000 worth of car rentals from Silver Car, the All-Aldi Airport Car Central Company. Do they need that? Also, I love the idea that Brad Pitt has to fish that out of his wallet. He's just got this venture. Yeah, he's never using it, right?

No. A $250 vibrator from Afterglow, an adult toy that uses low-level laser therapy to enhance arousal. How much does that one work? What? Just $250. A $20,000 gift certificate from Enigma Life, which includes dream analysis,

a horoscope reading, and a lesson in mind control techniques. $20,000. Mind control techniques. That should be a lifetime. Like, all day, every day, $20,000 should buy you a mind. What was it?

Mind control. Numbing techniques. Mind-numbing techniques. A lesson in mind-control techniques. Oh, my God. Okay. So you can sit there in the, like, Jedi, Jedi make Billy Crystal read out your name instead of Nicole Kidman's name.

This is so dumb. A $10,000 meal donation. of Halo Pet Natural Food to the animal shelter of the celebrity's choice. At least that's charitable. That's the first one that is anything. And it's nothing. An $800 voucher for a custom candy buffet from Candy Vixen.

This is the dumbest collection of things I've ever heard. I thought they would get like Beats headphones or something cool. At this stage it's just a bag full of pieces of paper for vouchers and a vibrator. And to top it all off, a $25,000 piece of... Custom furniture designed by Alina Focoli. My question is, how do they get that one in the bag? Is that another piece of paper? Is there some poor porter carrying around like a piece of furniture all night?

It really sounds like the answer to the question, what do you get someone who has everything? A bag of crap. A bag vouchers. A bag of... Shit vouchers. And a $25 iTunes voucher. That's ridiculous.

And not everyone even takes them home. I would. There'd be a big bin at the door. A recycling bin filled with paper. George Clooney, who won Best Actor in 2006 for Siriana, auctioned his Oscar gift bag and donated the proceeds, which was $45,000 to the charity United Way for Hurricane Relief. So good, honey.

We did something good about it. And I'm just going to finish off, as we did last week, with some cold, hard Oscar facts. Love it. Speaking of George Clooney, multiple award winners, George Clooney is the only person to be nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories. Oh, can we guess? Yes, okay.

Best director for... Yes, Best Director is there. Was that for the Descendants or something? Oh, I can't pick the movies. No, we're not going to pick the movies. I've just got the category. We'll just go category. Best Actor.

Best Supporting Actor. So we've got Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, that's three, yes. Best Rider. Screen-rime? Best original screenplay, yes. There's also another writing one, best adapted screenplay, number five. And Best Picture for Argo,

which he was the producer of. So six. Oh. All right, you're going to have another trivia go here. Three films have been nominated for 11 Academy Awards, which is the record. What three films do you think they are? Titanic.

Oh, okay. Eleven nominations. Titanic is there, yeah. Yes. They are all epic in scale. Lord of the Rings three. Which is that one? I have no idea.

The Return of the King? I'll take it. Yes, it is. Side fact. Longest film title to win the Academy Award for Best Picture until Birdman, which full title is Birdman, or the unexpected virtue of ignorance. Oh.

There's got Lord of the Rings. We've got Titanic. We've done lots of that today. There's one more classic epic film. Gone with the Wind. No, not that old? More epic. Big cast.

Moly on Rouge. Moul en Rouge. I suppose... Big cast. Go on in 60 seconds. Troy. Oh, that's the closest that you'll get. It is a...

I am Sparta. What's that? What's that called? Sparta? I may have put you up. Oh, what about Avatar? No, it is. Ben Hur.

Her. That's right. Win the films epic. So they got 11 nominations each. No, sorry, wins each. 11 each. Amazing. Wow.

John Ford has won the most Academy Awards for Best. director, he won four. Catherine Hepburn won the most awards for leading actress, also with four. Daniel Day Lewis has won the most for leading actor with three so far, but he's still alive.

He chooses roles very carefully, but when he does, so he might get another one in his life, I reckon. The shortest time to be nominated for an acting Oscar was Hermione Badley. In Room at the Top, in 1959, she was on screen for two minutes and 19 seconds. Oh, wow. So it must have been a great role, right? She nailed it.

And the winner, of the most of the most Oscars. Final fact in history is Walt Disney, who won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He also won the most Oscars in one year when he got four in 1954. They were all except for two were awarded for short films, and the other two were for documentaries. Oh, right. Okay. So none of the feature cartoons. Yeah, so the cartoons that you would imagine that he would win for. Right, but they were short films. So all except for two short films. So like Lambert, the sheepish lion?

Did that win one? I don't even know that, Phil. No. No, we didn't ask you this thing. Is this real? Is always trying to be a white and woolly sheep. Lambert, the sheepish lion. Is that real?

Yeah, it was like a featurette that I think was played before one of the movies. Well, if I made that up, I would be a genius. That is so good. certainly can't be true. So there was about a lion who, for some reason, became part of a flock of sheep. Sure. And as it grew up into a big lion,

it believed it was a sheep. And then the wolves attacked the sheep pack. Uh-huh. Flock. And then the lightning crashed, and he found his inner lion, and he scared the wolves off. Matt, I've got some terrible news for you.

It doesn't exist. Did I make that up? The sheep is the slagest line. Lion in 1952 was nominated for Best Short Subject cartoon that was beaten out by another Walt Disney film, Nature's Huff Acre. So there you go, we beat himself, but Lambert the Cheapest Lion. Not good enough. It's crazy that that was nominated. Crazy that's still in my head.

I would have seen that, like, sometime in the 90s. I love that. Yeah, you know the song? Were you alive in the 90? Yes, I was born in 90. Dave and I had the same age. That's right. We're two days apart.

1990. A good year. A great year. Well, that's the Academy Awards. Dave, now that we're at the end, is there anybody that you'd like to thank? I would just like to thank the Academy. Oh, no. No, here's my long list of people to thank.

Oh, I've got to go. Oh, okay, wrap up. I love that that guy said, okay, wrap up and then kept talking. What a legend. What an absolute legend. But, no, I would, I don't know if I would thank the Academy. There's 86% white-made. also over 62 years old.

Have you thought about making any speeches if you've won awards? I've promised Peter Jones that I'll thank him if I ever win an award. You're good pal, comedian. Peter Jones. Let's see if we can make Jess promise us the same thing. When do you thank our podcast? Yeah, yeah, of course, because this is where it all began. Yeah, absolutely.

So when I win a Logie. Yes, you'll thank the podcast. I'll thank you. Can you just say just the boys that do go on, the beadyweedy, yeah, and the skinny. And the skinny boy. Skinny boy. Skinny boy and bearded weirdo.

You know who you are. And then I'll start crying. And then your mom will be like, why didn't you... Stolen him away. Yeah, no, great. You'll be crying because the skinny boy died in that horrible accident. Oh, my God. And bearded widow and I haven't spoken for a long time.

Yeah, because bearded weirdo caused the horrible accident. Yeah, exactly. Oh, thanks for bringing out premonition of my untimely death. Matthew? Nah, everyone's healthy and safe and we're all okay. I think you're about to say, nah, everyone's going to die. Don't worry about it. We all are, so.

What? Well, I hope that before I die, I win an Academy Award. I hope you do to me. I believe in you, Dave. So that's it. I went on and on about the Academy Awards. Thank you very much for indulging me. I'm going to continue writing millions of trivia questions about the Academy Awards,

even though I sort of respect the process a lot less now, but that's okay. and we will be back next week with a report from you, Matt. Yeah. You are up next. Or Jess. But me, yeah. No, this is your warning. Start writing your damn report.

Can I like. Start researching. And we will catch you there. Just looking around for ideas. I'm going to do a report on bricks. We are surrounded by brick. Hats. Door.

History of headware would be pretty awesome. Ooh. Spoiler alert. Who knows? Check in next week when Matt will go on. Thank you very much. Bye. Later. Oh, hey everyone.

Dave here. Just saying thanks so much for listening to the show. If you enjoyed that episode, please share it around or subscribe and review us on iTunes. If you're listening on that platform, it really helps get the podcast out there. We also now have Twitter. You can follow us on at do go on pod, which written down looks like at dogoon pod. which written down looks like at Do GoonPod or you can email us episode ideas

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