It's All Rosie At The Grammys

Every great party needs a great host. On Wednesday night, Rosie O'Donnell will be hosting one of the biggest annual parties of the music industry, the Grammy Awards. CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen caught up with her between rehearsals Tuesday.

"It's an easy job, really," says O'Donnell. "I feel like I'm the grand marshal, and I have to point in the right direction. 'Here is Madonna! Here is Vince Gill! Here is Garth Brooks'!"

The only singing O'Donnell will be doing during the show are commercial parodies of nominated songs, including an adaptation of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On as an ad for underwear.

O'Donnell has been rehearsing for the Grammy broadcast all week, and for company, she brought two old high school chums along for the ride. One of them particularly wanted to meet rocker Steven Tyler, and O'Donnell was happy to arrange it.

"It's weird for me," she says. "Now that I have the [talk] show, I know these people, and it's hard to believe that I know them."

But the door swings both ways. There are times when O'Donnell meets someone who has been dying to meet her.

"It's only me," O'Donnell says. "I don't get that people can think about me the way I think about Bette Midler or something."

The toughest part of the Grammy gig, she says, has been separation from her two adopted children, Parker and Chelsea. "I left Sunday night. I'm not getting home until Thursday morning. And that's the longest I've been away from them," she explains.

For now, though, she's focused on her job as host of the awards show.

"I hope to be spontaneous, and be friendly and celebratory," she says. "It's hard being funny when you're not being mean. I hope to get a few good laughs, and I hope to eloquently move the show along."

O'Donnell previously has hosted the Tony Awards, but Wednesday night will mark her first time playing host to the Grammys. She almost turned the job down. But with her friend Madonna in the running and such a strong showing for female artists in general, she says she just had to say "yes."

"[Madonna] deserves many Grammys on the shelf for her unique vision, her thumbprint on pop culture," O'Donnell says. "She'll walk away with something tonight."

The 41st Annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT.