Yes, the awards are about honoring excellence and saluting the accomplishments of the best artists in their fields and all that other good-sounding stuff. But for many fans of the genre, the most memorable award show moments come when the stars accept their accolades, especially when they stray from the usual lackluster decorum. The series You Love Me: An Evening of Classic Acceptance Speeches turns those memories into comedic gold by inviting some of downtown’s funniest performers to recreate them live on stage. The show will return to Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater this month for one night only, and Free time learned exclusively who will be on the lineup for this sometimes wild, always hilarious send-up of Tinseltown glitter.
You love Me is the brainchild of entertainment journalist and Meryl Streep biographer Michael Schulman (New Yorker) And To break Hollywood blogger-turned-Hollywood Rachel Shukert (The Babysitters Club). The February 21 performance, the series’ first in several years, celebrates the publication of Schulman’s latest book: The Behind-the-Scenes Chronicle. Oscar Wars: A Hollywood History of Gold, Sweat and Tears.
Among the highlights: alt-comedian and Los Espookys co-creator Julio Torres will cover Angelina Jolie’s speech at the 2000 Oscars for girl interrupted, in which the disguised star seemed disconcertingly intimate with her brother; Michael R. Jackson, Pulitzer Prize Winner (A strange Loop) will bite into Fiona Apple’s badass statement “This world is bullshit” at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards; and teen blogger-turned-actor Tavi Gevinson will tackle the 2013 oration in which Jodie Foster obliquely came out of the closet while accepting a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement. Co-creator Shukert will step into the glowing skin of classic Oscars host Billy Crystal.
The rest of the roster is equally promising: Broadway treasures Ann Harada and Jackie Hoffman, gossip dean Michael Musto, someone somewhere co-stars Jeff Hiller and Murray Hill, It’s not Mo‘ star writer Jordan E. Cooper, dead darlings designer Amanda Duarte, WHO? Weekly podcasters Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, comedian Josh Gondelman, video artist Myles Kane and the brilliantly intense Erin Markey (killers). Peter James Cook leads this merry band.
What speeches will make the difference in this edition? Roberto Benigni’s shenanigans at the 1999 Oscars? Susan Lucci’s long-delayed 1999 Daytime Emmy Award? Mariah Carey’s pompous turn at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival? Show up and find out. Tickets for the show are $24 and can be purchased on the Public Theater website.
