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Two Hollywood veterans will be sharing hosting duties at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman said Martin and Baldwin are

“the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars.”

The producers have said they hope to resurrect Oscar’s ratings and make the show more fun by building on the changes introduced at February’s ceremony, which tinkered slightly with the way awards were presented and featured Broadway-style musical interludes.

“Very early on, we talked about a pairing as part of our concept of the show, having tradition and also freshness walking hand in hand,”

Shankman said …

“Steve anchors it in so much tradition and Alec … besides being a former Oscar nominee, he is just hot, hot, hot right now. And the two of them I know adore each other.”

A pair of hosts helmed the inaugural Oscar ceremony in 1929: Douglas Fairbanks and William DeMille, then president and vice president of the film academy, co-hosted the show. The last time multiple hosts graced the Oscar stage was in 1987, when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogan shared the duties.

“In the modern television era, this is the first time there will be two co-hosts on the same stage,”

academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger said Tuesday.
Splitting hosting duties between two funny fellows ups the show’s fun factor, Mechanic put it as

“taking a little starch out of the shirts, so to speak.”

“We can move things along more easily by taking out some of the stilted banter that goes on between presenters and let the hosts guide us through the evening,”

said he.
Martin has hosted the show twice before, in 2001 and 2003, and has appeared as a presenter several times. Baldwin is a first-timer as Oscar host, but did play the part of co-presenter in 2004.
Baldwin, 51, star of NBC’s “30 Rock,” called the Oscar gig “the opportunity of a lifetime.” He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for his supporting role in “The Cooler.”

Martin said that he is

“happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin.”

The 64-year-old entertainer is currently on tour in support of his latest banjo album. He and Baldwin share the screen in Nancy Meyers’ film “It’s Complicated,” out in theaters now.