Last Sunday's Oscar's were memorable for several reasons. One of the good things about the show was live comedy bit where Jimmy Kimmel had a bunch of tourists delivered to the ceremony. It turns out one of those tourists just had the most remarkable week ever. The Oscar audience fell in love with "Gary from Chicago" who got "married" during the ceremony by Denzel Washington to his fiancee who was on the sightseeing tour with him. It's safe to bet Gary had no idea where his life was about to take him, considering last week he was in jail.
A new story from TMZ reveals that Gary Alan Coe finished a 20-year prison sentence just a week before he found himself standing in front of all the celebrities at the Academy Awards. From jail to having a Spaceballs speed wedding presided over by Denzel Washington. It makes the ups and downs of whatever happened in your life last week seem pretty inconsequential, doesn't it?
While Gary and his fiance Vickie live in California, that hasn't stopped Gary Alan Coe's hometown from embracing the new celebrity. He's reportedly been offered Bulls tickets and free pizza in Chicago after stealing the show at Sunday's Oscars.
Oscar host comedy bits can run incredibly flat a lot of the time but Jimmy Kimmel's idea, to tell a bunch of Hollywood tourists that they were going to see an exhibit of Oscar gowns, and be delivered instead to the Oscars themselves, was one of the more entertaining things we'd seen at the show in recent years. The assembled crowd truly seemed to enjoy it and Denzel Washington, as Vicki's favorite actor, seemed more than willing to get in on the fun.
According to TMZ, Gary and Vickie are still planning a "real" wedding this summer. We almost feel bad. How in the world does one top Denzel Washington? If there's a downside to Gary Alan Coe's whirlwind week it's that after he got to stand in the theater during the Oscars and see all the biggest celebrities in person a week after getting out of jail, whatever he does next Sunday is going to be a total letdown by comparison.
Of course, as it stands not as many people are talking about Jimmy Kimmel's decisions for comedy right now because people are still talking about the utter mess that was the Best Picture award. Oscar watchers are still in awe by the entire thing. It's still unbelievable that such a major mistake could be made on live TV.
What did you think of Gary from Chicago and his fellow tourists at the Oscars? Was it a fresh comedy bit or simply more time-wasting on a show that's already too damn long? let us know what you think in the comments.
Photo Credit: ABC/Eddy Chen
