Let’s get to the point: You might have beef with some of this year’s Oscar snubs and the inclusion of The Boss Baby, but the Academy did right by picking Tiffany Haddish to host the nominations Tuesday morning. A typically staid affair — especially since the presentation happens at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. on the West Coast — proved to be must-watch television because of Haddish (and because of her interplay with cohost Andy Serkis). Between this and her riotous, 18-minute speech at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards earlier this month, she is officially having the best awards season out of anyone — even though her performance in Girls Trip has been mostly, and tragically , overlooked.
Here are just a handful of times Tiffany Haddish turned the Oscar nominations into the best morning show ever created.
This Opening
I have about a million questions, like what exactly did Haddish say to Serkis beforehand to get him to commit to this bit? And does she call him Gollum or Caesar?
“I Gotta See This Dunkirk”
Haddish’s improvisation skills were on point early, when she noticed Dunkirk racking up nominations in the production categories. “I gotta see this Dunkirk, seems like a lot of people like it,” she quipped. I take this not only as a good joke, but an endearing, genuine acknowledgment that she does, in fact, need to go see Dunkirk.
Andy Serkis Nae Naes
Beyond getting Serkis to stand dramatically, Haddish also helped him celebrate after his movie War for the Planet of the Apes was nominated for Visual Effects.
Honestly, I think Haddish was more excited than Serkis.
A 90-Second Power Nap
There was a one-and-a-half-minute break in the middle of the nominations, time Haddish wisely decided to use for a power nap. Reminder: It was 5 in the morning. I’d like to frame this somewhere in my home:
A Beautiful Collection of Mispronunciations
I never knew mistakes could sound so sweet. The real highlight of the presentation was Haddish repeatedly mispronouncing the names of the nominees (though, in her defense, some of them were tricky). Daniel Kaluuya, a Best Actor nominee for Get Out, is now Daniel “Kool-ye” or perhaps, “Kallelujah” — hallelujah with a K. “He know his name,” Haddish said, laughing off the whole thing.
Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino was another verbal obstacle, as well as, surprisingly, Michael H. Weber, cowriter of The Disaster Artist screenplay. (For the record, she nailed CMBYN’s Timothée Chalamet.) Weber, because he is a reasonable human, was just ecstatic to hear Tiffany Haddish say his name in any way.
In a perfect Oscars world, Haddish would’ve been nominated in the Supporting Actress category for Girls Trip, which put the seasoned comic on the map. Just imagine that speech. Also in a perfect Oscars world, Haddish would be hosting. That honor once again goes to Jimmy Kimmel, but it’d behoove him and the Academy to bring Haddish back in March. It’s a long awards show, and I wouldn’t mind hearing Haddish (mis)pronounce Guillermo del Toro’s name or describe the plot of Phantom Thread. Maybe by then she’ll have seen Dunkirk, too.
