Watch the Hugo Ceremony, If You Dare
Posted on September 10, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 33 Comments
The archived presentation of this year’s Hugo ceremony, with me as the emcee, is available for your perusal here.
As I noted on Twitter last night, I am happy to finally get a look at how the ceremony went; when you’re up there on the stage it’s hard to judge how everything is going. I won’t say too much about my own performance, except to note that should anyone ever decide to make a Muppet version of me, it probably won’t be too far off from the actual live version. I am many things, but an avatar of quiet dignity clearly is not one of them. I can’t say this is a bad thing for me, however.
Having attended a large number of Hugo Award ceremonies since 1974 I must say you were quite good. I expect you’ll be asked again.
And you had a great team working the stage and behind the scenes.
I’ve not been witness to as many as Mike, but you did do an excellent job – AND kept things moving at a reasonable pace! Congratulations
Michael Walsh:
I would take that last sentence and put it in bold and underline it three or four times. The fact that the crew working the Hugos had everything down cold made it much easier for me just to go up there and do my thing. They were fantastic.
I caught the ceremony in-person last week, then watched it again last night. It holds up to a repeated viewing *really* well. I laughed at all the jokes even though I already knew the punchlines. (How you welcomed the DragonCon folks is priceless, as were the five stages of Hugo.)
Is the awards ceremony considered a dramatic presentation, or a related work?
I really enjoyed your presentation. And the thought of you as a Muppet will probably make me grin like an idiot all day… sort of a human Kermit. (YAY!!! *arms waving madly*)
Yay! My DSL had trouble handling the real-time stream last night, so I missed the middles of jokes and some of the names and details in other parts and just general continuity, and I eventually stopped watching. This morning, I’m getting it all and enjoying it. And I have all the tweets in another browser window, because they add a level of enjoyment. God bless the Internets.
Watching as much as I did last night at least made me aware of E. Lily Yu, and I went and found her Three Stories and read them. She more than deserved that award.
John – I actually thought you struck just the right tone for an awards show. If I were you I wouldn’t be surprised if you got the call to host again.
It was fun seeing you from the front this time (as opposed to off in the wings). You really did do a fantastic job.
FROSTING!
I’ll look at it again later today. I missed a few parts between getting set up, taking to the spouse, eating dinner, etc. I ended up watching it on the IPad and following your tweets on my notebook. Loved watching you and Jim HInes on stage. I still think the two of you should do a photo shoot.
The Hugo rocket is just so cool. What a tradition! I hope it lives on for a good long time.
“should anyone ever decide to make a Muppet version of me, it probably won’t be too far off from the actual live version”
Maybe you could get Old Man Fuzzy to be the Muppeteer.
You did an awesome job. I admire your fortitude in being able to watch yourself — I’m not sure I’d be able to, even if objectively I knew that I was doing a good job. (And I don’t think that’s _just_ me, although I freely admit I’m neurotic about this stuff.)
“Avatars of Quiet Dignity” is the name of my Midge Ure cover band.
I seriously need to block off some time and watch this. As for the Muppet version of you, well you do know a professional pupeteer rather well…
I volunteer to be one half of Statler and Waldorf if you do it again, John. Maybe we can get Harlan Ellison to be the other half. We’re both from Cleveland. It’ll work.
"I am many things, but an avatar of quiet dignity clearly is not one of them."This made me think of Gene Kelley as Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain telling a reporter, “I’ve had one motto I’ve always lived by: Dignity. Always dignity” just before it cuts to scenes of him and Cosmo doing goofy vaudeville acts.
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.
You have already been muppetized.
John, is your Internet spider sense tingling? Someone just started a Scalzistock I Worldcon 2020 bid event on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/346461338775233/
John, if there’s ever an avatar of quiet dignity who looks like you, we’ll know it’s a pod person and harshly interrogate it until it reveals where the real you is imprisoned. Then it’s a matter for Seal Team Six.
People of Quiet Dignity can’t be trusted anyway, what with their calm beady little eyes and obvious plotting to steal my lucky charms…
Some day I have to get my ass to an SF convention.
Only relating slightly to the subject of the Hugos and Mr. Scalzi’s excellent hosting – In the video game Mass Effect 2, one of your missions is to check out a distress call from the ship Hugo Gernsback. Being curious, I checked out who Hugo Gernsback was, and found that he is indeed the namesake of these very awards. I thought it pretty cool of the folks behind Mass Effect 2 to honor Mr. Gernsback this way.
you shouldn’t have shaved! You’d be much less muppet-esque with the evil Wil Weaton face fuzz
I wonder how much we would have to offer Mary (and her agent and publisher) to make a Muppet Scalzi?
I think the Hugos could count as a Dramatic Presentation (that being the category Chris Garcia was nominated in for last year’s Hugo acceptance speech), but if the Will Of The Voters deemed it a Related Work, then it would go into that category. The administrators bow to the wishes of the nominators on such things.
But, since anything we do once is a Tradition, I’d say John’s serving as host would fall under “Best Dramatic Presentation” (said Garcia nomination being the precedent), and he’d fall in the Short Form category, since he talked less than 90 minutes.
Which means he could lose to whatever episode of “Doctor Who” wins next year.
@Gulliver: yes, you ought to do that; it’s very much fun. WorldCon’s in London in 2014! — must get my passport updated.
I should note I have no ambition for my emcee duties to be nominated for anything, Hugowise. If people want to nominate something related to me for a dramatic presentation, however, there’s always this.
Thanks for the “live”tweet, BTW. And get well soon (unless you’re well again, in which case , uh, good)
I am over here ——->
in a corner pouting because my ambition to see Scalzi-in-a-tuxedo has been thwarted. Man, that would have been an image to carry to my grave.
I won’t say too much about my own performance, except to note that should anyone ever decide to make a Muppet version of me, it probably won’t be too far off from the actual live version.
Just for your information:
At one convention I was at, which I think was Boskone, there was a traditional Last Panel of the Con which was Michael Burstein, Keith DeCandido, and, Leigh Grossman, I think. Just doing, um, stuff.
Anyway, this one year, DeCandido couldn’t make it, which made everybody sad, or, well, at least, less happy since people tend to be more happy with Keith DeCandido around. And it also meant that they couldn’t have the three of them doing their panel together.
So they got a little smiley plushy toy lion, and stapled a bunch of floppy yarn to its head, and put it on the table between them.
And, by golly if it didn’t look like him. And when they shook it side to side, it flopped its hair just like him. It really, honestly, DID make the panel feel more like he was there.
So, well, maybe you ARE a Muppet. But, if so, you’re in fine company.
You and the entire con committee and staff of Chicon 7 were magnificent. But ” avatar of quiet dignity” belongs to Krissy, not you, with all due respect.
I thought the entire ceremony was flawless. I may make a motion at next year’s Worldcon Business Meeting that you be made Toastmaster-for-Life. ;-)
I have to say, being seated about two-thirds of the way back in the ballroom meant that there were a lot of silhouetted heads seated in front of me, giving the whole thing kind of an MST3K vibe.
“… should anyone ever decide to make a Muppet version of me, it probably won’t be too far off from the actual live version.”
Is this the wrong time to confess a suspicion that you were secretly the basis for Walter?
Hello M. Scalzi,
I’ve watched on the Internet the full Hugo ceremony this morning and wondered: does a writer have to be overweighted by a couple of magnitudes to get an award? I mean, seriously: is fat the fuel for imagination?
Best,
Éric Angelini.
(5-6 kilos above my BMI and quite dumb, according to my friends)
Geez, John. First time I’ve ever seen you. Very well spoken. And I’m only 12 minutes into the video. Next round of Guinness is on me.