Host of the Critics Choice Awards Chelsea Handler decided to “go rogue” in California on Sunday night when she called Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie to the stage for a well-deserved acceptance speech.
Even though Barbie picked up six Critics Choice awards, including for Best Comedy, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Makeup and Best Song (“I’m Just Ken”), many were presented during commercial breaks and therefore didn’t air to tv audiences.
When Barbie won ‘Best Comedy’, Handler said: “I’m gonna go rogue because Greta and Margot deserve the opportunity to make an acceptance speech. Would you mind coming up and accepting the award?”
Gerwig and Robbie both thanked Handler for the opportunity, with Robbie noting: “You know, when everyone is like ‘Oh, this is so unexpected. This is actually unexpected and was not a part of the show.’ We were very grateful nonetheless and I’d like Greta to talk.”
Gerwig went on to say: “We were excited in our chairs. And it’s nice to be up here. Thank you to everyone that helped make the movie. I laughed during most takes. Because of our beautiful cast — Margot and Ryan and America [Ferrera] — who got to be as brilliant as they are.”
Along with this salute to Barbie’s success, Handler declared 2023 was “the year of the woman”, saying “Barbie at the box office, Taylor Swift and Beyonce with their tours, Gwyneth Paltrow and her ski trial.”
Chelsea Handler vs Jo Koy
At the Critics Choice Awards, Handler differentiated herself starkly from fellow comedian and her ex-boyfriend Jo Koy, who gave what many deemed to be a very out of touch monologue as host of the Golden Globes.
Koy’s most cringeworthy line might have been when he compared the Oppenheimer film to Barbie, saying that, “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project.”
“And Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies,” Koy said to a silent crowd.
Even as he attempted to place some blame on his writers and a lack of time as excuses for his failed Globes set, Koy’s speech has been widely criticised.
“Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago,” Koy said on-stage. “You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. Slow down. I wrote some of these and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
Koy’s performance made perfect material for Handler, who didn’t pass up the opportunity. Starting out her set, Handler joked about actors Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro being “total smoke shows” and added she would toss Martin Scorsese “around like a little Italian meatball”.
She followed up by saying, “Thank you for laughing at that, my writers wrote it.”
The subtle dig at Koy drew massive applause, including from many celebrities who had attended last week’s Golden Globes.