St. Louis-Based Academy Awards TV Spoof Earns Boyd Awards

He wasn’t an Oscar candidate at the recent 85th annual Academy Awards on Feb. 24, but Denny Boyd, president of Boyd Specialty Sleep, picked up an “Oscar” the very next day for his Best Supporting Actor performance in “What?! It’s Zero Dark Thirty Already?!?,” a spoof of the actual Oscar-nominated film of nearly the same name.

The film parody, produced by St. Louis’ FOX2 affiliate KTVI, stars the desperate, sleep-deprived FOX2 morning news team which rises daily at zero dark thirty—the “dead” of night—to deliver the station’s earliest newscast.

Hunting for The Sandman (played by Boyd) for years, the news crew acts on a tip and covertly enters a mattress warehouse. Clad in pajamas and ready for sleep, the team stealthily makes its way to a small back office. As the crew apprehensively opens the door, Boyd turns calmly in his chair, delivering his Oscar-winning line: “I was wondering when you guys were going to come see me. Hope you slept well, St. Louis!”

“What?! It’s Zero Dark Thirty Already?!?” also won the Oscar for Best Picture, having competed with three other FOX2-produced spoofs—“Largo,” “Les Wiz” and “Djaco Unchained”—all based on Academy Award-nominated films this year.

The Oscar winners were selected by the St. Louis station’s TV and online viewers, who cast their votes in each category. Both awards were announced by FOX2’s news anchor and feature reporter Tim Ezell during the 9 a.m. news broadcast on Feb. 25.

Claiming the production of the bit was “a lot of fun,” Boyd thanked the KTVI news team and commented on his win: “Since we sell mattresses, we like any award that has ‘best support’ associated with it!”

For more information, visit www.boydspecialtysleep.com.