LOS ANGELES — Hasan Minhaj caused laughs as the host of the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday.
But the comedian couldn’t convince actress Cate Blanchett to take part in a crowd stunt during the Independent Film Awards ceremony.
Blanchett literally hid under her table to avoid participating in the routine of what might first be an awards show.
The Oscar-nominated “Tár” actress had her hands in front of her face laughing when Minhaj first approached during the play’s introduction. The host asked Blanchett to do “some crazy expressions” for the cameras to create “clickbait thumbnail” photos for the show’s YouTube broadcast.
But Blanchett shocked the star-studded audience – and Minhaj – by ducking under the table filled with other “Tár” filmmakers.
“Is she coming out the other end?” Minhaj asked in disbelief while Blanchett continued to hide.
The host quickly switched to Tár director Todd Field to get a face. But Field also jumped under the table with Blanchett.
“Do we have anyone else?” asked Minhaj and moved to new tables. But near stars Marisa Tomei and Regina Hall continued the exodus under the table, with all four Hollywood personalities hiding under a table.
Minhaj was forced to continue with the skit, which didn’t elicit a single distressed expression.
Here the moment is captured Twitter:
And here are Minhaj’s other big hosting moments at the Indie Spirit Awards, held in a beachfront tent in Santa Monica, California.
Minhaj makes fun of the YouTube show
Minhaj said he was surprised that the independent award ceremony was streamed live on YouTube and Twitter. Cable channel IFC has aired the show for the past several years, “but they haven’t renewed their contract,” he said.
“Let me reiterate how bad this is — the Independent Film Channel didn’t want the Independent Film Awards,” he said, noting that IFC broadcast the poorly-reviewed 2008 Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro instead of the starred one filled gala showed.
“‘Semi-Pro’ was filmed in Flint, Michigan and it’s the worst thing that ever happened there,” he said.
Minhaj jokes about gender-neutral categories for the first time
The presenter had some laughs at the Independent Spirit Awards, which made film awards history by switching to generally neutral acting categories.
“For the first time ever, all acting awards will be gender neutral,” Minhaj said, looking at the Hollywood stars in the audience. “We don’t care about your gender identity as long as you’re hot.”
The joke continued:
“That’s right, Fox News. We know you’re seeing Tucker Carlson. All we know is that we are not engaged in a culture war. We don’t care about meaningless binaries like male or female. We only care about important binaries like lead and support. I’m glad we’re getting rid of gender categories. Because for the first time in history, all men know what all women have to deal with when they find out they’re going up against Cate Blanchett.”