Ozzy Steals Show at Political Dinner
May 5, 2002 -- In a banquet hall filled with many of the country's top politicians and journalists, it was an aging rocker who nearly stole the show.
At the annual White House Correspondents dinner, a traditional forum for roasting Washington insiders, including the president, it was Ozzy Osbourne, former lead singer for Black Sabbath and current star of the MTV hit, The Osbournes, who drew a lot of the fire.
Basking in the light of his newfound popularity, Ozzy became the target not only for the headliner, comedian Drew Carey, but even for President Bush himself Saturday.
"What a fantastic audience we have tonight," Bush said. "Washington power brokers, celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne.
"The thing about Ozzy is, he's made a lot of big hit recordings — "Party With the Animals," "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," "Face in Hell," "Black Skies" and "Bloodbath in Paradise," Bush said. "Ozzy, mom loves your stuff."
Carey got a laugh from the crowd when he found similarities between the rocker and the president.
"They both partied a little too hard when they were younger," Carey said. "Half the time you can't understand a word either one of them are saying."
Read more about the White House Correspondents dinner.
Ozzy's Odd [Mainstream] Path
It's been a banner year for the so-called godfather of heavy metal, and attending the dinner as a guest of Fox News' Greta Van Sustren was only the latest in a series of surprises that have recently seemed to land on his doorstep.
In April, Ozzy was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. But without a doubt, the biggest and most positive surprise of all has been the popularity of the reality show in which he and his family star.
Variety describes The Osbournes as America's favorite dysfunctional family. Not only has it become MTV's most successful series, attracting more than 6 million viewers weekly, but it's passed professional wrestling as basic cable's most watched show, Nielsen Media Research told The Associated Press.
For four months, MTV cameras and microphones were given free reign to record the daily goings-on in the Osbourne household. Ozzy, his wife Sharon, and two of their kids, Kelly and Jack, along with their pet menagerie, go about life, seemingly uninterrupted and undisturbed by the intrusion. The result is a comical, eccentric, and at times raunchy portrait of family life, Osbourne style.
Sharon, in addition to being one of the subjects in this reality-TV experiment, is also one of the executive producers, and nothing gets on the air without her approval. Fortunately for the viewers, her censorship standards are extremely lenient.
Though The Osbournes' premiere season was an unqualified success, MTV has yet to confirm that the show will return for season number two. However, both Sharon and daughter Kelly, have said that a deal has been reached and that the show will return.
Also, Daily Variety has reported that MTV may pay $20 million for two more seasons — a quantum leap up from the $200,000 they received for this year's 10 shows.
Notorious Past
As for Ozzy himself, his newly-discovered persona as the bumbling patriarch trying to deal with the mundane problems that go along with family life is a far-cry from how he was seen in the past. For years, the singer-songwriter was the scourge of parents and the media alike, because of his seemingly satanic-friendly lyrics and on-stage theatrics. Besides his now infamous act of biting the head off a live bat during a performance, he allegedly shot his ex-wife's 17 cats, and was arrested for urinating on the Alamo — actions, that, at least in part, might be blamed on his reported excessive use of alcohol and drugs.
But now, his eccentric and at times, threatening behavior, along with his substance abuse, is far behind him. These days, he's a family man, a TV star, and of course, still a musician. And in June, his unlikely luck continues: He's scheduled to perform at Buckingham Palace for England's Queen Elizabeth.
Produced for ABCNEWS.com by Mark King.