Osman’s remarks say a lot about our celebrity culture

The presenter’s apparent criticism of Oscar winners Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison has caused an outcry. But he has a point about Britain’s incurious attitude, writes Louis Chilton

- Louis Chilton

There’s a moment in the latest episode of The Rest Is Entertainment, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde’s phenomenally successful pop culture podcast, that’s been kicking up a minor stir on social media. Osman, the TV game-show presenter and writer of lucrative “cozy crime” novels, is discussing this year’s Oscars and the supposed lack of interest among the British public.

“You look at the Best Actor and Best Actress winners, Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison,” he says. “If you were watching any British chat show and they were on, you would probably switch over. You would probably think, I wish this was Sara Pascoe and Greg Davies.”

At the time of writing, this 14-second clip has been viewed nearly half a million times and the responses have been nothing short of indignant. One prominent tweet branded Osman an “imbecile”. Others expressed incredulity that anyone could look at the state of television – a medium that is, let’s face it, sated with so much Greg Davies that it could burst – and demand more Greg Davies.

To be fair to Osman, his remarks were taken slightly out of context: elsewhere in the episode (titled “Is It Time to Yell ‘Cut’ on the Oscars?”), the