Hosting Oscars, Globes, or Emmys is live television on the world's biggest stages. These legends rank among the best award show hosts of all time for longevity, memorable monologues, and reviews that still hold up decades later.

Bob Hope hosted a record nineteen Academy Awards between 1940 and 1978. Historians ranked Hope first on nearly every best award show hosts of all time list compiled before the modern cable era.

Billy Crystal hosted nine Oscars with custom song medleys and film parodies critics ranked as the post-Hope gold standard. His openings remain clip-ready templates for the best award show hosts of all time.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler owned Golden Globes co-host chemistry; Ricky Gervais defined roast-era monologues across six NBC telecasts. Both secured repeat bookings that define best award show hosts of all time rankings.

Whoopi Goldberg broke Oscar hosting barriers in 1994; Ellen's 2014 selfie went viral worldwide; Jimmy Kimmel steadies modern broadcasts through controversy years — all fixtures on best award show hosts of all time lists.