Flipping off Putin, breaking out the fishnets and 10 more chaotic moments from the 2022 Spirit Awards

To quote Honorary Chair Kristen Stewart: "Let's clap. It's weird."

By Alison Foreman  |  March 7, 2022 | 2:41pm
Film Features Peter Sarsgaard
Flipping off Putin, breaking out the fishnets and 10 more chaotic moments from the 2022 Spirit Awards
L to R: Nick Offerman, Taylour Paige, and Kristen Stewart Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez, Amy Sussman

The Independent Spirit Awards returned as an in-person affair for the first time in two years on Sunday, adding a jolt of energy and an unexpected shot of chaos to Hollywood’s 2022 awards season. Clearly, the stars and filmmakers who filled Film Independent’s giant tent at the Santa Monica Pier were eager to cut loose after the show’s pandemic-induced hiatus.

The nearly three-hour affair featured several memorable bits from hosts Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly (including a sadly unused stripper pole), as well as drunk winners, confused presenters and a category quirk that left Taika Waititi handing out Best Ensemble Cast to his own show. “I’m literally giving an award to myself,” quipped the co-creator of Reservation Dogs, which also won Best New Scripted Series. “This is what’s become of us.”

Here are just some of the moments that made this year’s Spirit Awards an event worth remembering.

previous arrow“Back-up host” Sarah Silverman “dies” next arrow
“Back-up host” Sarah Silverman “dies”
Back-up host Sarah Silverman in an air-tight box for the 2022 Spirit Awards Screenshot IFC

If the Spirit Awards went by Friends naming conventions, then this show might’ve gone down in history as “The One That Killed Sarah Silverman.” Mullaly and Offerman opened the show with a backstage sketch about meeting “back-up host” Sarah Silverman. A former Spirit Awards host herself, Silverman arrived in a big box bearing the words “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS.”“It’s a liability thing,” explained the stagehand who wheeled Silverman into frame. “Since you both joined Twitter before 2015, it’s standard procedure for us to keep a back-up host in case anything resurfaces before showtime.” You’d think someone would have made sure to put air holes in Silverman’s enclosure. But alas, they didn’t — and Silverman “suffocated” at the sketch’s end.

7 Comments

  • dudebra-av says:
    March 7, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    They are not “nipple tassels”, they are pasties and Nick Offerman looks weird……without his moustache!!!!

    Reply
  • socratessaovicente-av says:
    March 7, 2022 at 4:58 pm

    They’re a helluva hosting duo. I hope they tour a live show again.

    Reply
  • mantequillas-av says:
    March 7, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    I thought that first photo was Robin Thicke having let himself go.

    Reply
  • breadnmaters-av says:
    March 9, 2022 at 8:09 pm

    Congrats to everyone who helped make The Lost Daughter.

    Reply
  • adamthomas11-av says:
    March 10, 2022 at 3:29 pm

    Maybe I am being sensitive or picky, but why is there a need to note Taylour Paige as a “former Laker girl?” Similarly, I noticed in the clip I saw of him winning they felt the need to say Rex “got his start in (pause) pornographic films…” Like WTF people? I think Rex did like 3 or less solo porn scenes before he was 20 but that is all anyone talks about with him. Like I am sure he has to talk about it in.every.interview…. Both of these statements seem to be trying to indicate “how far they’ve come” or something and really it is maybe just insulting? Why are we like this? Anyway not a knock on the author of this (or the presenter in the show) per se but more a comment on how our society talks about people. Anyway, Taylour mega deserved it and I haven’t seen RR yet but am looking forward to it…

    Reply

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