Sideshow: Murphy to host Academy Awards

Eddie Murphy, who garnered his first and only Oscar nomination in 2007 for Dreamgirls, will own the show next year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that Murphy, 50, would host the 84th annual Academy Awards, live on ABC on Feb. 26.

"I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Awards hosts, from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin, and Goldberg, among others," Murphy said in a shockingly joke-challenged statement.

Unusual for Murphy, whose potty-mouthed brilliance has juiced up everything from Saturday Night Live (he was the best Gumby east of the Mississippi!) to 48 Hrs. and Shrek - not to mention his love letter to Philly, Trading Places.

  Murphy, 50, became the odds-on favorite to get the gig when his pal Brett Ratner, who directs Murphy in the forthcoming Tower Heist, was hired to produce the show.

Just hope he doesn't forget the Gumby suit.

Business Insider reports that Justin Bieber is sinking a fistful of cash into tech start-ups. See, the teen was recently videotaped shooting ball with NBA guard and ladies man Steve Nash and Mike Duda, copartner in Nash's venture-capital firm, Consigliere Brand Capital. As the senior financial analyst at Gawker concludes, "judging from his songs, one can predict that Bieber's investment strategy hinges on companies that look good in tight jeans and won't never, ever, leave him."

Vice President Biden tells Car and Driver mag (www.caranddriver.com) that an '09 Onion story claiming a topless Biden was spied washing a Pontiac Trans Am in his driveway was not entirely accurate.

"You think I'd drive a Trans Am?" Biden tells the mag in jest. "I have been in my bathing suit in my driveway and not only washed my Goodwood-green 1967 Corvette but also simonized it. At least the Onion should have had me washing a Trans Am convertible. I love convertibles."

The very first guest on the very first edition of Anderson Cooper's very first daytime talk show on the very first weekday of next week will be Amy Winehouse's beau, Reg Traviss, followed by the late singer's mum and dad. On Tuesday, Coop will cover "spray tanning with Snooki" and address "his now infamous uncontrollable giggle fit." The show airs locally on CBS3 at 9 a.m. Monday-Friday. Info: www.andersoncooper.com

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Producers of the Sept. 18 Emmy Awards have announced that a gaggle of nominees will also put in time as award presenters, including Amy Poehler and her hub Will Arnett, Sofía Vergara, and Julianna Margulies.

Madonna's filmmaking ex, Guy Ritchie, 42, and his galpal, Jacqui Ainsley, have welcomed a baby boy, who arrived Sunday by emergency C-section, London's the Mirror says.

Madge, a loving woman, sent the couple a "huge bouquet" of flowers. Ritchie has two sons with Madonna, Rocco, 11, and David, 5.

Alyson Hannigan, beloved for her role as Willow on cult fang show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, may be pregnant - or "PREGGERS," as Perez Hilton calls it. Or she may not. Alyson, who has a daughter, Satyana, 2, with husband Alexis Denisof, was photographed with a seeming baby bump Friday at a chili cook-off in Malibu, Calif.

"NO, I'm not pregnant!" Alyson tweets. "I just ate too much carnival food."

Beyoncé bravely bared her budding baby bump Tuesday at a Croatian beach. B and hub Jay-Z are kicking back in Europe this week. Jay is excited. "Jay didn't have a father in his life," an Anonymous Insider tells Us Weekly, "so he wants to be an amazing dad."

ABC officially has crowned winemaker Ben Flajnik as the next star of The Bachelor when it returns in January. Ben, who was rejected by The Bachelorette's Ashley Hebert, will have the run of a stable of 25 single babes.

Regis Philbin will exfiltrate from Live with Regis and Kelly on Nov. 18, the retiring TV host said Tuesday on the show's 24th season premiere. Regis, 80, is retiring after five decades on the small box.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Tuesday rejected action star Wesley Snipes' appeal to overturn his conviction and prison sentence on tax charges. Snipes, 49, had appealed for a retrial, citing juror misconduct. Convicted in 2008 on three counts of willful failure to file income-tax returns, Snipes started a three-year prison term in December.