Watch Robin Williams accept an award on behalf of a stoned Jack Nicholson
It was only 2003, but everything was impossibly different. Harvey Weinstein was still the head honcho of Hollywood executives, it was still totally acceptable for men to comment on the size of a female presenter’s breasts, and actors could still walk onstage stoned out of their box to accept awards. I think it’s fair to say we’re all glad those first two are no longer tolerated. However, the below video of a stoned Jack Nicholson asking Robin Williams to accept an award on his behalf really makes me miss the third one.
2003 was the year of the 8th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards. Films like Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, Chicago, Road to Perdition, The Hours, The Pianist and Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers were all up for awards, and the biggest names in the business turned up to show their support. The evening was going smoothly until it came to the Best Actor category, for which Daniel Day-Lewis had been nominated for Gangs of New York, Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt, and Robin Williams for One Hour Photo.
When Selma Hayek came onstage to announce the winner, she explained that the critics had called a tie: “I’m going to call the first name,” she told the audience. “This wonderful person can come up here and say thank you, and then I will say the second name, so there’s going to be so much dramatic tension.” She then revealed the first winner, Daniel Day-Lewis, who delivered a grounded speech thanking, rather regrettably, his producer Harvey Weinstein, his co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, and, finally, “The patron saint of shoemakers.”
Hayek then invited joint-winner Jack Nicholson to accept the award. Leaning towards the mic with a pair of dark shades strapped around his head, the actor said: “Well, I don’t usually get this baked when it’s on television”. Unable to get through his speech without help, he asked fellow nominee Robin Williams to join him onstage: “What Jack is trying to say here,” Williams began, “Is that he’s so happy to be here he could drop a log, really.”
What follows has to be the most brilliant and anarchical piece of awards show television of all time, apart from maybe the Chris Rock slap incident. That really was something else. Check out the full clip above if you haven’t already.
