Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges (Crash) appears - he doesn't sing, but he introduces a performance of Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard's award-nominated song It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp from Hustle & Flow. Actor Terence Howard (also Crash) performed it in the film but felt he couldn't do it justice on the night, instead handing the mike to Three 6 Mafia.

Queen Latifah agrees with the title of the song, announcing the nominees for the best original song Oscar. And the Oscar goes to... It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp, to the great surprise of all present.

Presented by Jennifer Garner, the award for best sound editing goes to Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn for their work on King Kong, who previously took the same award for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

George Clooney, still waiting for his directing Oscar, walks on to introduce another montage. Entitled 'In Memoriam' it pays tribute to some screen stars who have recently passed, including comic Richard Pryor, Pat 'Mr Miyagi' Morita, Sandra Dee, Chris Penn, Shelley Winters and Anne Bancroft.