Armenian Pizza Guy Upstages Oscars

Move over Papa Gino. Step aside Dominos. Make way for Big Mama & Papa, based in Los Angeles. After that Academy Awards charade at the Oscars March 2, Edgar Martirosyan may just have found his pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. One report already lists a business increase in all 20 of his franchise stores. In case you missed it, hostess Ellen DeGeneres pulled off one stunt after another to pump some lifeblood into the show. So she ordered up a pizza party for the stars. On comes Martirosyan with a red baseball cap and street clothes, scooting down the aisle with three pizzas in hand, hot off the oven. A long night with the usual mundane acceptance speeches suddenly erupted with vitality. There was Martirosyan holding the red and yellow boxes while DeGeneres was serving up slices to such film icons as Liza Minnelli, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep. Then came Brad Pitt with the paper plates and napkins to help out while wife Angelina Jolie looked on with admiration. It wasn’t without a dash of controversy, however. One vegan viewer wondered if the pizza was meatless. It was a better role than he played in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and may just have landed Pitt another Oscar. Mega star producer Martin Scorsese’s eyes lit up as he reached into the box for his piece. Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio was truly “The Wolf of Wall Street” as he wolfed down his portion. No doubt, he could have easily grabbed another but displayed some etiquette or he would have gone down in a “Titanic” sequel. A pregnant Kerry Washington couldn’t resist and noted another pregnant woman nearby needed some pizza, too. But if anyone deserves that statuette, it’s Martirosyan, only few knew he was Armenian until much later, especially the billion viewers who were tuned into Hollywood’s greatest spectacle. The Big Mama’s deliveryman kept his cool throughout, delivering his pies like a pro. So calm and collected, in fact, that Scorsese may give him a role in an upcoming film. They greased the pizza, but not Martirosyan’s hand. Are you ready for this? This guy who delivered the pizzas to the Oscars had no idea DeGeneres collected hundreds of bucks earmarked for his tip. Ellen had passed a hat around and scooped up around $300. When you deduct $75 for three pies, and that’s being generous, it leaves an awesome tip. Our guy left empty-handed but his patience was rewarded with a whopping $1,000 gratuity when he appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” the very next day. Like the Dean Martin song, “The moon hit his eye…like a big pizza pie.” DeGeneres admitted collecting $600 from the audience and topped it off with $400 of her own money. “I don’t know,” he told CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” on Monday. “I was just shocked. It was a really great moment.” Martirosyan also revealed that his delivery was not pre-planned and he was just as surprised to discover he was bringing pizza to the likes of Harrison Ford, Jennifer Lawrence, and his favorite actress Julia Roberts. According to Martirosyan, he got a call to deliver 20 pizzas for the writers of the show at the Dolby Theater, only to be led on stage by DeGeneres, completely unaware of where she was really taking him. Movie stars and TV personalities have known DeGeneres long enough to follow her lead without a second thought, given her spontaneity and pratfalls on stage. Martirosyan was mum the whole time and didn’t say a word. He somehow learned how to give photographers the brush-off with presumably no experience. “If you can’t tip property, then fix yourself a store-bought DiGiorno pizza,” came another opinion. The incident turned into a laughing matter. Here are these actresses and actors squeezing into their tight gowns and tuxedos, chomping down pizza. Many thought it was nothing more than another publicity stunt staged by DeGeneres to get a laugh. The boring speeches and secondary awards called for a long and tedious evening. “The guy’s now famous. He’ll be making far more than that $1,000 tip,” an observer remarked. Another viewer offered this scenario. “It was a gimmick that everyone was in on and probably got their money back. Plus, the delivery place got mucho publicity out of it.” Since then, friends from all over the world have called this instant celebrity to congratulate him. “I’m thinking that it’s all about my American dream becoming a reality,” he notes. “Yes, this is truly the American dream.”

Armenian Pizza Guy Upstages Oscars

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Tom Vartabedian

This story is FREE for you...

Tom Vartabedian

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