Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will co-host on "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards" on Nov. 12, 2008, broadcast live on ABC Television from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Nov. 6, 2008 — Brad Paisley has a spontaneous wit, but he’s not taking any chances when he co-hosts next week’s "42nd Annual CMA Awards" with Carrie Underwood.
He’s given himself a bit of an awards-show history lesson to get a feel for what’s involved in the role.
"I've watched some tapes of some old awards shows, watched a couple Oscars actually with Steve Martin and Billy Crystal," he told The Tennessean. "It's not that I could ever do what those guys do, but seeing how they handle stuff, because that's the part that you can't plan for. I mean, we can have a great script, but inevitably something is going to happen that we don't really expect."
Among the surprises in past CMA shows: Charlie Rich burned the envelope when he announced John Denver as the Entertainer of the Year in 1975. Mary Chapin Carpenter got a standing ovation when she dissed an unnamed headliner with a one-time-only performance of "Opening Act." And Alan Jackson shocked the audience when he stopped singing the song he was supposed to perform in 1999 to do one verse of George Jones’ "Choices," following a snit between George and the producers that ended up with the Possum skipping the show.
"In every year that there's been a CMA Awards, something happens that is memorable that you don't expect," Brad said. "The great thing about having full-time hosts again with myself and Carrie is that you have that common thread there that's the tour guide for the night and we can react. If something is funny in the first hour, we can talk about it again in the second."
Brad also consulted with Vince Gill, who gave him some simple advice: "When in doubt, make fun of yourself. You can't offend anybody doing that."
Vince also helped out on Brad’s new album, Play. Vince is one of six guest guitarists that appear on an instrumental piece called "Cluster Pluck."
The CMAs air Nov. 12 on ABC. Brad has four nominations, including Entertainer of the Year, where he battles Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Sugarland and Keith Urban, who’s also a Play mate.
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