The Oscar nominations were announced this morning. And we’ll get to that through the day. But we have to start with Tiffany Haddish who, along with Andy Serkis, was invited by the Academy to call out the nominations. Please, I’m begging you. If you weren’t watching, get your life and find the video of this because… well…. she’s Tiffany Haddish.
And she was Tiffany Haddish right off the top, when the camera cut to her and Andy and she had one hip out in an exaggerated red carpet pose. THAT’s what she brought to this ordinarily very staid, very takes-itself-too-seriously occasion. From there, it almost didn’t matter what or who got nominated, not when Tiffany was talking. Here’s a sample of some of the amazingness that came out of her mouth:
“I gotta see this Dunkirk. It seems like a lot of people like it?”
THIS. DUNKIRK.
And then, when introducing short films, here’s how she put it:
“That last category proved that length doesn’t matter. HMMM.”
It was the most I’ve ever, ever enjoyed watching these nominations at ass in the morning. With Tiffany there, her blazer hanging off one shoulder like her job was to make a fashion statement, and, yes, mispronouncing the names. Which a lot of people are talking about on Twitter. See? Next time you yell at the TV all like, how hard can it be to read the teleprompter – this is a skill. And, yes, I’m totally being a self-serving bitch here because reading the prompter is part of my job but as I said a couple of weeks ago after the Golden Globes, when the best actors in the world who are paid to deliver dialogue have trouble with the prompter, it should tell you that prompter-reading isn’t a walk.
That said, it wasn’t like Tiffany was up there pretending she didn’t know. Part of the fun was watching her point out that she wasn’t great at the prompter-reading and laugh at herself for it. Which, as we’ve seen over the last year, is a big part of Tiffany Haddish’s charm.
Tiffany Haddish broke out in 2017. And, more importantly, her breakout has been sustained. A breakout only counts if you can build on it. She has worked to build on it but also, she’s been given the opportunity to continue building on it. Those opportunities still aren’t distributed equally. But there is movement. Tiffany is still moving.
So here’s the question everybody is now asking: why isn’t Tiffany Haddish hosting the Oscars? Paul Thomas Anderson who was nominated today for Best Director for Phantom Thread already told the world he wants to meet her. They HAVE to meet at the Oscars, right? They HAVE to invite her to the Oscars now, right? Right???
