Seth MacFarlane: I will lose Oscar to Adele

Seth MacFarlane is convinced he will lose the Oscar for best original song to Adele.

The funnyman is nominated in the category for Everybody Needs a Best Friend from his summer comedy Ted.

But Seth is sure the movie, about a man whose best friend is a talking teddy bear, will fall short in favour of the title track from Bond film Skyfall.

"We will lose to Adele. Don't get me wrong - as cynical a guy as I sometimes appear to be, nothing would delight me more than to walk away with that [award]," he told USA Today.

"But I don't think there's a chance in hell that we will win."

Adele co-wrote the track with Paul Epworth and her moody recording has been critically lauded throughout awards season.

Seth meanwhile wrote the lyrics to Best Friend, composed by Walter Murphy and sung by Norah Jones, who will perform it at the ceremony.

He did admit his first Oscar nomination came as somewhat of a shock.

"Walter Murphy and I really did work extremely hard on that song to try to write something that is classic and ideally timeless sounding," he said, explaining, "We were surprised to get nominated because it's so political."

Seth is hosting Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

He is expected to perform a song and dance number, as the evening's hosts often do.

Adele is also believed to be singing at the event.

The 24-year-old crooner, who welcomed her first child late last year, recently spoke about her own elation at being nominated at the prestigious ceremony.

"Oh my god I feel like Meryl Streep!! Thank you x," she tweeted after the nominees were announced last month.

Also acknowledged in the category are songs from Chasing Ice, Life Of Pi and Les Misérables.