I can't stand that smarmy wiseass, but he certainly didn't bomb last night, much as I wanted him to. It would help if the broadcast would mike up the crowd a bit -- the laughter seemed very muffled and distant, the pauses long and silent.
He did an OK job, but obviously he (and everyone else there) were read the riot act about alienating Middle America too much, after the dismal box office and loony lefty bias of the past year.
Hollywood also knows that this year will be even worse dollarwise than last: even with last year's lousy box office there were surefire blockbusters like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Narnia, King Kong, Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, etc. There ain't nothing like them on the ledger this year except maybe Shrek, Superman or X-Men. It won't be enough.
The crowd WAS miked- - - but the sound couldn't get out past all that silicone!