Billy Crystal knows how to get the kids to watch the Academy Awards. When he wasn't appearing in parody scenes from Oscar-nominated films at the opening of Sunday's (February 26) show, he was taking a second to lock in the tween viewership, with a good dose of Holocaust-related humor for added measure.
For his parody of the Woody Allen flick "Midnight in Paris," a tux-wearing Justin Bieber rolled up to the Academy Awards host, who was sitting on a stoop. "Come here, come here," he shouted to Crystal. "What's up? I'm here to get you the 18-24 demographic. So how long do you want me to sit here for?"
"A couple seconds, I think, will do it," Crystal said. The two then exchanged some awkward, lingering glances waiting out the appropriate amount of time before they could move on to the next part of their gag, which, of course, focused on Hitler and the Holocaust.
"So what are you going to do now?" Crystal inquired. Bieber replied, "We're gonna go hang out with Hemingway and Fitzgerald." That "we're" he was referring to was Bieber and Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr.
Crystal, done up as Davis Jr., added, "And then we're gonna go kill Hitler. Billy, is Biebs the young Sinatra, or am I nuts?"
"Oh Sammy, stop it!" Bieber laughed, before pulling off.
The opening sketch also included homages to "The Artist," "The Help," "Moneyball" and "The Descendants," to name a few, with appearances by nominees including George Clooney and Jonah Hill. After the sketch closed out, Crystal hit the stage for a musical number.
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