1. James Franco – 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Although the pairing of Anne Hathaway and James Franco did very little to set the stage all a-sizzle, at least Hathaway scored over Franco thanks to her sheer beauty and perky attitude. Franco on the other hand looked like a shy teenager approaching the girl he had a crush on for a first date – hugely awkward. Everything from his presentation to his posture and even his clothes made him look awkward and uncomfortable. This is one guy who isn’t going to get another shot at doing this for sure.

2. David Letterman – 67th Annual Academy Awards

Although he’s a great TV show host, he proved to be a less-than-average awards show host at the 67th Academy Awards. There might be many who appreciate a rather dry sense of humor but Letterman’s jokes during the event left a bitter taste in the mouth. Hollywood wasn’t amused by his attempts to crack them up and he was shown the door – for good!

3. Donald Duck – 30th Academy Awards

Much as we love this Disney’s creation who goes about squawking in some alien language with all his feathers ruffled for one reason or another – we don’t fall for him too much when he takes to hosting Academy awards. It seems some things are better left to grownups and real life characters.

4. Chelsea Handler, MTV Video Music Awards, 2010

Chelsea Handler claimed that she’d been a teetotaler for a week to prepare her for the hosting of this particular award ceremony. Many believe she should have tried staying sober for a couple of months, at least, before making an appearance on stage. Although her crass, tacky, and belligerent humor got approval from 11.4 million viewers, making this particular ceremony the third most watched Video Music Awards ever the critics were far from impressed by Ms. Handler.

5. Angela Lansbury, Emmy Awards 1993

Angela Lansbury is best remembered for her spunky role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. Having herself received a dozen (probably more) Emmy nominations, it was only a matter of time before she was asked to host the Emmys. However, in comparison to comedian Dennis Miller, co-host of previous Emmys, people found Lansbury to be somewhat too traditional.

6. Chris Rock, 77th Academy Awards

Chris Rock is known for his acerbic, loud mouthed, high pitched jokes which can be stomached only by the strong willed people and those that are rather hard of hearing. Not too many celebrities found his antics on the stage very amusing and Sean Penn was particularly vociferous about his displeasure. However, one has to admit that his opening monologue did have the audience in splits. See, I give credit where it is due.

7. Reality-Show Hosts, Emmy Awards, 2008

The idea was novel – get together the 5 people nominated for the Best Reality Host category and have them emcee the show. However, when Tom Bergeron from Dancing with the Stars, Jeff Probst from the Survivor, Heidi Klum from Project Runway, Howie Mandel from Deal or No Deal, and Ryan Seacrest from American Idol appeared on stage to give an awkward, poorly put-together unscripted performance, the audience only graced them with polite laughs. And that too, sparingly!

Well, these are the guys I picked for doing a not-so-great job as awards show hosts. Who would you add to the list?

Top image source: chiqmontes.com