Steve Martin, host of the Academy Awards. Does anyone find it odd that the former "jerk" is now a respectable choice to host Hollywood's biggest bash?

I guess not. After all, while Steve Martin like many comics first made his mark with slapstick and silliness, nobody wants to be Jerry Lewis forever. Heck, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler are doing drama now, and Robin Williams is playing villains. Villains!

Still, I have to say I miss Steve Martin the "wild and crazy guy" of comedy classics The Jerk, All of Me, and The Man With Two Brains. It's just not the same seeing him in tame comedies like Father of the Bride, which has managed to leave no trace in my memory save of Martin Short as the obnoxious wedding planner.

Maybe Steve Martin is getting nostalgic himself, as I hear he's gone back to physical comedy in Bringing Down the House, which I haven't seen yet. Well, that movie (co-starring Queen Latifah) was a phenomenal box-office success, so maybe Martin will get a little crazy again in his "old age."

But if not, we still have Steve Martin the writer, who gave us that superb Cyrano tale Roxanne and that more recent Hollywood send-up Bowfinger. There's more way than one to be "wild and crazy."