Best Homage
Jon Stewart on Cate Blanchett

Jon Stewart seemed relatively at ease for someone who had to put together an evening's worth of jokes in just 11 days (having been forced to wait until the writers' strike ended to invent Oscar quips with his team of scribes). His best gag paid tribute to the versatility of double nominee Cate Blanchett. This year, he observed, she played a famous woman (Queen Elizabeth I), a famous man (Bob Dylan), and (as demonstrated in a funny graphic) even played the scary dog that chases Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men. In fact, Stewart said, she was playing him right now. If the cameras hadn't cut to Blanchett laughing in the audience, viewers might have believed him.