At his best, Russell Brand is a whirling dervish of comic energy, mobilizing a crowd, taking no hostages and sparing no sacred cows. While he's not as likely as a Ricky Gervais to just stand around insulting the room, he could create an atmosphere of edgy hilarity, adjusting to whatever happens on the fly. Brand has ample award-hosting experience as well and his upside as a may be greater than anybody else in this gallery.Still, not all of Brand's award-hosting experience has gone so well and as viewers of FX's "BrandX" know, when Brand bombs, he bombs HARD. The conservative Academy is unlikely to want to take the risk of a disaster, favoring potential hosts with minimal downside over hosts with high upside.