How Gary From Chicago Rescued The Oscars & Won Our Hearts

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 27, 2017 4:01PM

Two weeks after a Chicago native stole the show at the Grammys, another dude from the city followed suit at Sunday night’s Academy Awards—or as it’s now known here, the night the world met Gary from Chicago.

The bit didn’t start off promisingly. After an interminable buildup, host Jimmy Kimmel thrust a gaggle of tourists from a sightseeing bus right into the fishbowl of Oscars’ front row. But Gary Alan Cole (or Gary from Chicago as he will forever be known) and his fiancée Vicki led the pack of tourists and delivered the night’s most impossible-to-deny charm offensive.

With his “Hollywood” sweatshirt and knockoff Chance the Rapper hat, Gary was instantly lovable, along with his steadfast refusal to stop filming through that pink-cased phone. And like a true Chicago gentleman, Gary took the reins of Vicki's handbag without hesitation.

Gary accepted some sky-candy from Ryan Gosling—even as he hilariously copped to Kimmel's claim that Gary was ignoring the white celebrities—and carefully handled Mahershala Ali's Oscar. Denzel Washington even officiated an impromptu "wedding" ceremony for the happy couple.

It was all enough to instantly catapult Gary to the status of local legend. The uncanny Michael Jordan tongue-of-champions seems to have helped.

No meme, of course, could top the actual unfiltered reality that is Gary and Vicki, but some choice ones flooded through nonetheless.

There was some hilarious social-media speculation about whether Chicago would turn on Gary and Vick if they proved to be from the suburbs and not from the city proper. (Locals can be unforgivingly literal with the phrase "from Chicago.") But as they long they don't go and Ken Bone this up, we'll be happy. We'll get the chance to learn a bit more on Monday night, when Gary and Vicki join appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live.