John Mulaney didn’t host the Oscars, he didn’t win an Oscar, he barely even presented an Oscar, but he gave an Oscar-worthy performance.
Mulaney was tasked with presenting the Oscar for achievement in sound on Sunday night at the 96th Annual Academy Awards on ABC. Before reading the nominees, Mulaney listed a few epic moments of sound in cinema history. This sent the comedian down a hilarious tangent as he explained the entire plot from Field of Dreams.
John Mulaney explaining the entire plot to Field of Dreams instead of presenting his category at the Oscars lol. king pic.twitter.com/5q98HfH5ur
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 11, 2024
“What about that moment in Field of Dreams?” Mulaney asked. When we hear, ‘If you build it, he will come.’ And then Costner does it: He builds a baseball field.
“Well, I guess he doesn’t build it; he mows down corn, and then there is a field, and then he’s like, ‘I’m going to watch ghosts play baseball.’ And the bank is like, ‘You want to pay your mortgage?’ And he’s like, ‘No, I’m going to watch ghosts play baseball.'”
Mulaney continued down his rapid tangent for nearly a minute without missing a beat. He hilariously noted how “weird” it was when Burt Lancaster, as Moonlight Graham, left the field to perform the Heimlich maneuver on Gabby Hoffman, who was choking on a hot dog. Subsequently, Graham was banned from returning to the game.
“Because I guess there is a rule in ghost baseball,” Mulaney continued. “That if you leave the field at any point to become an elderly ghost and do the Heimlich maneuver, you can’t return to the field.”
In a sport filled with dumb rules like you can’t talk about a no-hitter, you’re not supposed to admire a home run, and Barry Bonds can be in the Hall of Fame, but he can’t be a Hall of Famer, it shouldn’t be surprising that ghost players would be banished for leaving the field to save a life.
“I love Field of Dreams,” Mulaney insisted. “That should win best picture, though they’ll probably go with one of this year’s.”
Mulaney’s recap of a 35-year-old movie had the internet buzzing about the possibility of seeing him host the Oscars next year, especially on the heels of his successful monologue from the Governor’s Awards two months ago. John Cena was naked, Jimmy Kimmel battled Donald Trump, Ryan Gosling performed “I’m Just Ken,” and there was even a clapping dog. But it was still Mulaney’s Field of Dreams recap that won the Oscars.
[ABC]
