Nothing will stop Tiffany Haddish from having one heck of a good time.
Fans were dismayed to learn that the Girls Trip breakout star hadn’t received a supporting actress nod when she and Andy Serkis announced the Oscar nominations back in January, but Haddish proved at the ceremony ON Sunday night that the snub didn’t faze her. She strode onstage with Maya Rudolph, high heels in hand, and they went on to trade compliments, riff on race and eventually present the award for best live-action short.
“When we came out together, we know some of you were thinking, ‘Are the Oscars too black now?’” Haddish said before assuring the audience that there were plenty of white people still backstage.
Haddish and Rudolph spoke for all of two minutes, but they stole the show. Some viewers immediately pitched a comedy starring the duo, and a BuzzFeed writer even jokingly suggested that they replace our current administration and run the country. (Rudolph as president and Haddish as veep, presumably.)
This seems to be the effect Haddish has on people. After receiving just a handful of small awards for her boisterous Girls Trip role — in which she delivered the most memorable pronunciation of “booty hole” known to mankind — the comedian somehow managed to end the season with an unbelievable number of offers and proposals, some real and some fantastical. Let’s break them down.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s next project
The Oscar-nominated director of Phantom Thread — and Rudolph’s longtime partner — tops the list, but only because he asked politely. Anderson won the New York Film Critics Circle award for best screenplay in January but instead of accepting in person, he asked Phantom Thread actress Lesley Manville to read a statement on his behalf. According to Vulture, it included a message to his “hero,” Haddish: “Tiffany, I know everyone wants to work with you now, but please, may I cut to the front of the line?”
It was a good night for Haddish, who went home with Anderson’s phone number and her own award for best supporting actress. While accepting the latter, she delivered a nearly 18-minute speech that promptly went viral the next day.
“I appreciate you; I’m glad you see me. Because it’s been so many years nobody saw me,” she said. “When you’re a little kid going through the [foster-care] system, doing, you wonder, ‘Does anybody even know I’m alive?’ And to be able to be this example to so many youth — there’s so many people like me that you guys have no clue about. But they coming. Because I kicked the [expletive] door open.”
Hosting Saturday Night Live
Haddish made history when she hosted SNL in November, according to Deadline, as she became the first black female stand-up comedian to ever host the show. (That’s 43 seasons.) The opening monologue touched on growing up in foster care, for which she thanked “anyone who paid taxes between 1990 and 1999.” She also spoke to her quick rise to fame — Girls Trip had been released just four months earlier.
“I Googled myself — it said I’m worth $2 million [Dh7.34 million]!” she remarked. “What do I need to do to get this money? Fake my own death? Tupac this [expletive] and move to Tyler Perry Island?”
Her SNL appearance marked the second time Haddish wore her now-famous $4,000 Alexander McQueen gown. She previously wore the cherished garment to the Girls Trip premiere in July and brought it back while presenting with Rudolph on Sunday.
“I spent a lot of money on this dress!” she said on SNL. “This dress cost way more than my mortgage. ... I’m [going to] wear this dress multiple times! Real talk.”
A development deal in the works with HBO
The details are a bit hazy on this one, but Variety broke in late January that the actress had signed a “two-year pact” with HBO. The deal follows Haddish’s Showtime special from months earlier that shares a name with her production company, She Ready.
Several upcoming movie and TV roles
Haddish boasts a jam-packed IMDb profile, with eight projects that have yet to be released.
On the big screen, Haddish is slated to appear in Uncle Drew with actors Nick Kroll and Lil Rel Howery and basketball stars Shaquille O’Neal and Kyrie Irving. She’ll reunite with Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee for a film called Night School, which also stars Kevin Hart and follows a group of misfits who try to obtain their GEDs.
A movie with Melissa McCarthy called The Kitchen will be about mob wives who pick up their imprisoned husbands’ duties in 1970s New York, while The Oath, a satirical thriller written and directed by The Mindy Project star Ike Barinholtz, centers on citizens who have to take an oath of loyalty in a politically divided America.
On TV, Haddish will play the successful mother of fictional ex-convict Tracy Morgan’s children in The Last O.G., an upcoming TBS series created by John Carcieri and new Oscar winner Jordan Peele. Netflix recently ordered a 10-episode series called Tuca and Bertie from the team behind Bojack Horseman, for which Haddish is set to voice the lead character, a cocky toucan named Tuca, and executive produce.
Hosting the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards
Haddish announced last month on Instagram that she’d be hosting the June awards show, and that it would be “off the chain.”
“You know why?” she asked. “I’m hosting. And you know what that means — it’s going to be hilarious.”
And a few fantasies ...
A “Girls Trip” sequel starring Meryl Streep as Haddish’s mother
On Sunday before the Oscars, Haddish — who had dressed for the red carpet in a gown that paid homage to her late father’s country, Eritrea — told ABC’s Michael Strahan that it was a dream to be at the Oscars. Her other dream? For Meryl Streep to play her mother in a Girls Trip sequel.
“I have not bumped into Meryl Streep yet, but I am looking for her, and we will have a conversation,” Haddish said.
She wasn’t lying. Later during the red carpet, according to HuffPost, Haddish hopped into a roped-off area, briefly hugged Streep and curtsied to the 21-time Oscar nominee. Listen, if Streep’s going to star in a Mamma Mia! sequel and play Alexander Skarsgrd’s mother in the next season of Big Little Lies, the least she can do is work with Haddish on this magical project.
Being Brad Pitt’s new boo
Backstage at the Oscars with Kelly Ripa, Haddish played a wonderful, PG-rated game called “Marry, Date, Ditch.”
“I love games,” she said deviously, rubbing her hands together.
Right after Ripa read out the first name, Brad Pitt, Haddish cut her off: “Ooh, I just met him in the elevator. He said in one year if he’s still single and I’m single, we gonna do it. So, you know what that means. But he do got seven kids. I don’t know if I could deal with a man that’s got that many kids.” (The other two options were Javier Bardem, who she’d ditch, and George Clooney, her ideal husband.)
Just so we’re clear, Pitt has only six kids. Tiffany, what say you now?
A gig hosting the 2019 Oscars ceremony
After Haddish and Rudolph’s brief time onstage, a number of viewers begged for them to host next year’s ceremony.
You want it, we want it and they probably want it. Producers, it’s your turn.
