Oscars 2012: Burning questions answered

Why did they say that, drink that, do that? We answer Oscar’s biggest burning questions.

Sacha Baron Cohen, dressed as his character 'General Aladeen' at the Academy Awards on Feb. 26, 2012.

Jason Merritt / Getty Images


They laughed, they drank, they showed maybe just a wee bit too much skin. But the star of the night was a mystery man with a famous backside: Carl the seat filler.

Each year there are some head scratchers included in the Academy Awards and here we do our best to answer some of burning questions that come up during a three-hour-plus telecast.

But at least one question remains unanswered. We have no idea where you can get a tuxedo like Carl’s. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Question #1: You may have wondered why Bridesmaids stars Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne stopped just before announcing the winner of the Best Documentary Short and whipped tiny bottles of vodka out of their dress fronts for a slug of hooch onstage. The reason? Someone had yelled out “Scorsese!” That calls for a drink. Bridesmaids star Maya Rudolph explained at the SAG Awards in January that the cast came up with the game while shooting the comedy. Rudolph, McCarthy and Kristen Wiig then proceeded to demonstrate. After all, Scorsese was in the house. And there he was Oscar night, too. It would be rude not to follow their own rules. So does that mean the Hugo director has to do likewise every time he hears their names?

Question #2: Did Jennifer Lopez have a warbrobe malfunction on live TV during the Oscar telecast? Dressed in a shimmering, skin-tight white gown cut down to there, J-Lo was presenting the Oscars for costume design and makeup with Cameron Diaz when it became apparent there was something embarrassing showing. Or was there? The dress seemed to slip a tad. Or was it a shadow? But it looked to us like we were seeing something a little extra. It’s the question that launched a thousand PVRs and got a fair share of tweets.

Question #3: “Who are you wearing?” is the most often-asked question on the red carpet. But after Sacha Baron Cohen showed up as General Aladeen from his new movie, The Dictator, carrying an urn he claimed contained the ashes of the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and then dumped them on Ryan Seacrest, we had to wonder what — or who — Seacrest was wearing. Some said it was powdered biscuit mix. Does that make him Seabiscuit?

Question #4: Tom Hanks helped make seat-filler Carl a household name at Sunday’s Oscars, introducing the grinning gent in the powder-blue tuxedo as a fellow whose posterior has filled in for Hollywood luminaries for 59 years while they’re busy being fabulous onstage. But who is this mystery man Carl? And where can one get a suit that went out with singing waiters? “I think Carl took me to my prom!” tweeted Katie Couric.

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