Ellen returns as Oscars host

Ellen DeGeneres will host the 2014 Academy Awards.

Yesterday she tweeted: “It’s official: I’m hosting the #Oscars! I’d like to thank @TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra.”

“I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time. You know what they say — the third time’s the charm,” she added in a statement.

The talk show host and comedian previously hosted in 2007, earning an Emmy nomination in the process.

Oscars Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said: “We are thrilled to have Ellen DeGeneres host the Oscars. As a longtime friend, we had always hoped to find a project for us to do together, and nothing could be more exciting than teaming up to do the Oscars. There are few stars today who have Ellen’s gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity. She is beloved everywhere and we expect that the audience at the Dolby Theatre, and in homes around the globe, will be as excited by this news as we are.”

Tim Goodman at the Hollywood Reporter said she was a natural for the job.

“She’s not too old. She’s not an Old School Male. She she’s not a desperation “reach” as a selection and she won’t have to change who she is or what she does. She hosted in 2007 and did a fine job. The real question about the Academy’s decision to bring her back is this: What took them so long?”

The 86th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, 2 March 2014.