"Once you get through the opening, unless you do something really stupid...you're pretty much gold," said MacFarlane.
MacFarlane knows what awaits him when he takes the Oscar stage. There's an audience at home with high expectations.
"And you have a room that's relatively thin-skinned. It's probably the toughest audience out there, so if you're too soft, they're not going to give you much. If you're too hard on them, they're going to gasp and turn on you. So I expect to have them hating me within the first 30 seconds," said MacFarlane.
MacFarlane is known as the voice of "Ted." But he's best known for the many voices he plays on TV's "Family Guy."
When he was hired, MacFarlane sought the counsel of someone who's been there many times before.
"I talked to Billy Crystal, and he was a super nice guy and genuinely helpful, took time out of his schedule to sit down with me. I came out of it with some practical, practical stuff," said MacFarlane. "It's hard enough to find that balance when you're trying to do it traditionally. We're trying to mix it up a little bit, so this could be a disaster. Or it could be fantastic."
With Oscar Sunday just days away, play the My Picks game to choose who you think will win in each award category.
The My Picks experience will live on Oscar.com, the Oscars App, Facebook, ABCNews.com, OTRC.com and GMA.Yahoo.com. Play My Picks right now!
Have a smart phone or tablet? Download the free official Oscars app to get news and updates about the show. It's available for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
Get the full list of 2013 Oscar nominees
The Oscars will air live on ABC7 on Feb. 24.
Oscar Sunday lineup:
- 1:30 p.m.: On The Red Carpet at The Oscars
- 4 p.m.: The Oscars Red Carpet Live
- 5:30 p.m.: The Oscars
- 8:30 p.m.: On The Red Carpet at The Oscars
- 10 p.m.: Jimmy Kimmel Live
- 11 p.m.: Eyewitness News
