Chip, well, no, actually, a little bit of contemporary culture was decided last night. One of the questions (beside whether Jessica Simpson would demonstrate more than trace elements of talent) was how would the host do? This is one of the outstanding questions in a culture that is fragmented as fast and far as ours. What character, from what background can the right someone come. The rule book used to say that the best candidate would be the host of a late night TV show. After all, these people had hosted fame contestants all year long. Did he not make sense that they should be there to award the prizes? But Carson, Leno, Letterman, all proved too bland to sustain a show that harbors formidable powers of tedium. Chris Rock looked promising, but not that wasnt going to work either. It is almost as if the award shows were swinging wildly back and forth between the provocative (Rock) and the bland (Leno). What was called for apparently was someone who split the difference. Enter Craig Ferguson, who managed to be both agreeable and interesting (not to mention Scottish). Thanks, Grant

LK, When I was listening to George Lopez, it seemed to me that he was treading on the trickster territory you have studied, and I wondered what you thought of the performance. It seemed the freshest part of the event, but I was secretly pleased when Bullock slapped him down. Thanks, Grant

It used to be supposed that the late night show host that

A few years ago, The Onion ran a story about “The Awards Awards”, in which various award ceremonies (the Oscars, Emmies, Tonys, Baftas, etc) received prizes, eg, for the Best New Award in an Existing Award Category. I just tried to find it on The Onion’s site, but failed.