The New York Film Critics Circle Awards, which were held Wednesday night at Tao restaurant in New York City, are the first major Hollywood awards ceremony of the season. Thanks to Tiffany Haddish, the show may also already be a lock as the best.
Haddish, accepting an award for best supporting actress for her role in Girls Trip, delivered an epic, exuberant marathon of an awards-show speech that gave a room full of stodgy critics all. the. life.
Mind you, the entire time Haddish was delivering what was essentially an off-the-cuff stand-up routine and life-coaching session, she was sipping on a custom cocktail: the “Tiffany Toast.” According to Variety, the drink was a blend of “Finlandia grapefruit vodka, yuzu citrus and a hint of pomegranate.”
The entire speech clocks in at damn near 18 minutes, but it is absolutely worth it. (And let’s be honest: Many of y’all are hunkered down right now thanks to the winter apocalypse hitting much of the U.S. right now. You have time today!)
Here are some of the highlights:
On the statue of an Eastern goddess behind her:
All night I’ve been staring at this bitch, I’m trying to figure out who is this bitch? … When I look her I feel like I’m looking at myself; she’s taking a nap, but she’s doing a lot of stuff, all at the same time. That’s what my life has been like that last year. I’m asleep, but I’m woke.
On criticism:
I know some people in here gonna talk shit about me. It’s OK. You know why it’s OK? Because you care enough to say something. If you didn’t say nothing, then you didn’t care. So if you said something, then thank you. I don’t care if it’s positive or negative. I appreciate you. I’m glad you see me.
On visibility:
It’s been so many years when nobody saw me. You know, when you’re a little kid, going through the system, doing all this—you wonder, “Does anyone even know I’m alive?” And to be able to be this example to so many beautiful—there’s so many people like me that you guys don’t know about. But they coming, ‘cause I’ll keep the fucking door open.
On auditioning for Girls Trip:
My agent was like, “Ah, they only want to see names,” and I was like, “You tell them I’ve had a name since 1979.”
On how to approach her:
The thing I hate the most is people that come up to me and I can smell fear on ’em. It make me want to fuck ’em up. I hate fear. I know fear is fuel for other things, fear will help you move toward something great, but don’t be trying to put that shit on me. Come up to me happy. Come up to me with a smile. Find your joyful self if you talking to me. If you come up to me scared, it’s gonna make me talk to you crazy.
Other must-see moments are when Haddish dishes on a scene that was cut from Girls Trip (the filmmakers were afraid that if anyone tried to re-enact the scene, they would get sued), dispenses life advice to the crowd, thanks her longtime friends and repeatedly tells the crowd she doesn’t care.
You can watch the entire clip below (props to Alison Willmore, who caught the entire, magnificent thing):