And the Winner Is…
Appreciating the art of a great Hollywood acceptance speech.
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Lahti has been acting since 1978.
She hasan Oscar, anEmmy,two Globes, and a number ofBroadway rolesto her name.
This years award for cloning, he joked.
People from the Deep South say, Weve had cloning its called cousins.
I was in the bathroom, Mom!
she said when she got to the microphone.
Lahti handled hers with humor and grace.
Lets walk through this.
Did you expect to win that night?I never expect to win.
I have a huge pile of speeches that I never gave.
I didnt expect to win, but I always prepare a speech just in case.
Thats so interesting that youve hung on to those various speeches.
So I went to the bathroom with my girlfriend, basically just to put on more lipstick.
Im gonna go back, and Ill see you back in there later.
I say, Ha, ha, ha, thats not even funny.
She says, No, you really did.
I cant believe I missed it.
So I walk in thinking its over, and theres Robin Williams on the stage vamping.
He had jumped up, and had he not, Im sure they would have moved on.
He was riffing brilliantly.
I sent him flowers the next day because it was so thoughtful and sweet of him.
And who better to do that?Who better?
It was a dream.
That is a good joke.I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of that on the spot.
That was the beginning of the end because there was nothing on the speakers.
I think in the bathroom in the ballroom, you’re able to hear whats going on.
But that didnt happen.Nope, it was just this casual woman who passed me by in the hallway.
Then I stormed in because the only thing I thought was,My moms going to kill me.
He knew you were in the ladies room.Yes, he says something about, I know you want this.
Im not going to leave until you come up here and get it.
What was it like to re-enter the ballroom at that point?
I thought,I missed it and fuck me.
Im just a stupid person who doesnt read asterisks on programs.Thats when Robin saw me and said my name.
Thats really a good thing for me because I took them way too seriously.
Its also refreshing to hear you acknowledge that you did take it seriously at one point.
Its just a really gratifying recognition of your work, which is always great.
I dont mean to minimize it, but it really isnt that important in the scope of things.
Ive been doing this for literally 50 years, and I know now that they dont change your life.
Do you remember getting back to your seat?
How could you have gone to the bathroom?It was just all fun and memorable.
People remember that, obviously.
Its like,Okay, big deal.This one was the big one.
Thats kind of the catch.
Itll be on your resume.
They invariably make the show better.
You had to die prematurely in a play?Yeah!
At the end of Act One,Brickhurls his crutch at me.
I duck down behind the bed, and he misses.
The dialogue is all about,Here it is.
I cant keep doing the play until I find the crutch.
Im looking around the stage and I cant find the fucking crutch.
I look out onto the audience, and its leaning up against a woman in the front row.
I pull, she pulls back.
Im pulling the crutch, and Im thinking,Lady, just give me my fucking prop.
And then I look down in the darkness and notice that she has this huge cast on her leg.
It was her crutch.
This is really meant to be sad.
I ad-libbed some kind of, Oh, fiddledeedee, I didnt need that anyway.
What did I do that was so funny?
They always unite the audience with the actors.
Theyre rooting for you because they see how vulnerable you are.
Theres something so beautiful about that chemistry.
So I really relished what happened at the Golden Globes.
I knew it was going to turn out good.
Its interesting, too, because you couldnt have imagined it existing on YouTube forever for people to revisit.
She walked away with a great story, too.A great story.
And I was pulling!
I was, like, yanking it, thinking shes just pulling a prank on me.
Had I taken her crutch, that would have been really bad.
Your theater background makes total sense in terms of how you handled the Globes moment.
There was such a warmth, like,Yay, she made it.
The other reason people remember it is because it was the year ofTitanicandGood Will Hunting really big movies.
The viewership ratings were astronomical.And you know what?
Back then, television wasnt nearly as important as it is now.
This was before streamers, so it was a lot of internet shows.
He said, If I were you, I would tape some toilet paper to my shoe.
I completely stole that idea.
And did you reference the bathroom incident onstage?
Or was it just an inside joke?I didnt say a word about it.
Either you got it or you didnt.
