Billy Crystal Covers EW's 2012 Oscars Issue

Billy Crystal cleans up an Oscar statuette on the cover of EW‘s Oscars 2012 issue, on newsstands Friday (February 24).

Here’s what the 63-year-old actor – and host of this year’s Academy Awards – had to share:

On whether he thought he might get to host again: “I’ll tell you what happened: [Longtime Oscar producer] Gil Cates called me last May or June. I did six shows with Gil. He said, ‘I think I’m getting the job. Would you host? Let’s do one more together.’ I said, ‘Gil, I’m tempted, but I don’t know when this movie [I'm doing] is going to start shooting. I’ve got to say a firm maybe.’ Inside, I thought I was going to do it, but then tragically Gil got sick and he had [heart] surgery and he passed away.”

On avoiding edgy comments during the show: “That whole concept of ‘I want to really go after people’ – I don’t understand that. Is it a roast or is it an awards show? Do you dislike these people? I have a different bar. If there’s a good target and they deserve it, you can kid them in the right way. But it’s not the place to go out there and hammer people, because who am I? There’s many times we’ve kicked out jokes because they were too personal.”

For more from Billy, visit EW.com!

Bigger cover pic inside…