What’s amusing is I was at the actual Golden Globes a few months ago, and it was after we had filmed this episode. Ted was sitting literally like sev
What’s amusing is I was at the actual Golden Globes a few months ago, and it was after we had filmed this episode. Ted was sitting literally like seven feet away from me. And Zoe Saldaña won very early on in the evening, and as she was thanking people, she was clearly getting down the list and he hadn’t been thanked yet. And he looked back at me and gave me a look like, “Oh no, is it gonna happen?” And then like, right at the wire, she thanked him, and he gave me a look of immense relief.
Seeing him is a huge surprise, since he runs a competing streamer. Was he also aware his scene would be at a urinal when he signed on?
It was really amusing. I just sent him the whole episode. I was like, “You’re a part of this big running joke where every time someone mentions your name, it’s like a nail in my brain.” And he emailed back within like half an hour and was like, “Yes, this is wonderful.”
Zoë Kravitz has this storyline about how she pretends she doesn’t care about winning, and then obviously very deeply does. I’m sure that’s inspired by real life.
It’s inspired by me. [Laughs] I mean, the truth is I’ve actually seen people with my own eyes physically practicing acceptance speeches backstage—like to an emotional T. It was so amusing watching Zoë do it because we had the feed of the actual video cameras that they shoot the show with up on the wall. I was looking at it and just being like, This is indiscernible from what it would actually be like if she won the award. There is literally no difference between this performance she’s giving and what an actual award winner looks like. I’ve seen a lot of people downplay their desire to win awards, and be seduced by the desire to win. At the end of the day, I think every actor wants to win an award.
You have a habit of calling out awards shows while you’re onstage. During COVID, you pointed out that the Emmys were not exactly feeling supersafe, and even at this last Globes, you pointed out how awkward the camera angles were. Have you gotten into any trouble for your off-the-cuff thoughts while you’re presenting?
The Emmy people were not particularly thrilled with me that year. I for sure have not been asked to present again since that happened. I’m not a stand-up comedian by any means, but as someone who works in comedy, I think what you’re always trying to do is say the thing that hasn’t been said, but everyone is thinking. Awards shows, to me, are an especially potent opportunity to do that. At the Golden Globes, you could just see everyone in the room was like, “What the fuck is going on with this fucking camera angle?” And so if anything, I’m just praying nobody else does it.
Years ago, I stopped telling them what I was going to say. I think at the 2008 MTV Music Video Awards, I got in a gigantic argument with the people backstage about this bit we were doing. We were pretending to smoke weed onstage, and I think ever since then I’m always like, “Leave it blank. I’ll just do my thing.” Which they don’t like either.
Has anyone reached out to you to accuse you of using their story as inspiration?
Definitely. I think more [often] people have not wanted to accept that we have based things off of them, rather than claiming that we have based things off of them. If anything, people are like, “That’s not me though.” But I think in general they really see that it comes from a place of love.
Listen to Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast now.
COMMENTS