Spirit Awards In (Non) Memoriam Foreshadows Tonight’s Long List
By Ani Bundel
The Spirit Awards last night did a Non-Memoriam Segment reminding us of the celebrities that are still alive, ahead of tonight’s Oscars.
By the end of the year last year, it had become something of a national (and in places international) joke. 2016 kills again! As the first wave of baby boomer celebrities reach the age where the first began shuffling off this mortal coil, it felt like this was a year of celebrities dying all over the place.
And with the Oscars comes the final, and most public, “In Memoriam” segment of the year that was 2016. Considering how many of the celebrities we long, one assumes this year’s will feel extra long and poignant.
Which is perhaps why, last night at the Independent Spirit Awards, the production did not attempt to try their own version. With the Oscars happening the next night, and many of those in the audience attending both, it seemed more appropriate to do what might have felt like a slightly shorter list: those that survived.
Starring Andy Samberg doing his best Eddie Vedder impression (which when not actually singing is merely so-so), the repurposed 1990s rock number “Alive” runs down all those who are in the audience and happily still with out…until of course, one of them decides to croak on cue.
Meanwhile, on another note, Nick Kroll and John Mulaney did a fantastic job as hosts. If you missed it, check out their opening monologue.
Next: The Best and Most Laid Back of the Independent Spirit Awards Red Carpet
Not that I think the Oscars would go so far as to hire them next year, but perhaps the Golden Globes might consider it. That is, as long as they are not planning on inviting Mel Gibson.