The Envelope, Please – Gary, Frank and The 90th Oscars – Episode 72

BOOTH ONE - Celebrating Culture and Conversation

It’s Oscar season, and Gary and Frank delve into the nominees, snubs and surprises for the 90th Annual Academy Awards.

On a sad note, Gary announces that our dear Roscoe, founding co-host, will not be re-joining us in the Booth any time soon. Life happens and Roscoe continues to deal with some health challenges. We are wishing him the best and hope he can appear as a guest sometime soon. Gary gets down on one knee to propose to Frank Tourangeau that he becomes our new permanent co-host. And guess what? He said “Yes”! Frank is the best and we hope you enjoy this partnership. BTW, Frank was our producers’s theater mentor…How lucky are we that he is willing to be our new co-host.

Though snubbed for Best Director consideration this year for The Post, Steven Spielberg has announced a casting call for a remake of the classic musical, West Side Story. All you aspiring Marias, Tonys, Bernardos and Anitas, get yourselves out to Hollywood and you too could make movie history by starring in the new Tony Kushner adaptation. Jets and Sharks wanted!

We address the recent dismissal of long-time (34 years!) Chicago Sun-Times theatre critic Hedy Weiss. Sun-Times officials are apparently not going to replace this position, and instead use stringers and freelancers to cover the theatre scene in Chicago moving forward. This will undoubtedly result in reduced coverage for off-Loop companies and those trying to create a niche for themselves. This is a void that we at Booth One are anxious to fill with more episodes devoted to the burgeoning Chicago theatre scene and the artists who create it.

But the crux of today’s episode is devoted to reviewing the Oscar nominees and those that missed out. Frank and Gary have seen all the nominated Best Pictures and several other films of note throughout the year. We cover the following categories:
Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Picture

We do our best to give our listeners a glimpse into each nomination, and our personal takes on what we think and who we feel will win. Frank’s own favorite picture is Call Me by Your Name, though he’s skeptical about it winning the big one. Gary’s choices are Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out. The Shape of Water appears to be the current front runner.

Gary’s biggest snub? Holly Hunter in The Big Sick. Frank’s? Martin McDonagh as best director for Three Billboards. And they both agree that I, Tonya was robbed of a Best Picture nomination.

Kiss of Death

Bob Smith – Widely regarded as the first openly gay comic to perform on “The Tonight Show”

Mr. Smith’s humor was gentle but smart. What he brought to his stand-up comedy was the point of view of a gay man that wasn’t a victim, wasn’t the butt of the joke. He was making the joke. Born and raised in Buffalo, Mr. Smith made his groundbreaking appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” in July 1994. He had the audience laughing from the start. Bob Smith succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was just 59.

Read his remarkable obituary here.