Adam Sandler lot his two daughters write his hilarious, self-deprecating speech as he accepted a career tribute award at the 2022 Gotham Awards on Monday, Nov. 28.
Sandler started the speech by joking that his two children called him out for not having the energy to write his own speech before offering to do it for him. Sandler agreed, noting that his children had only one other condition: “Do you want to give the speech in that silly Southern accent that you give all your stupid speeches in?” Of course he obliged.
The speech got off to a great start, with Sandler reading, “Dear well-dressed, highly-educated hipsters and various other plus-ones of the Gotham Awards: Thank you for giving our father, Mr. Adam Sandler, this prestigious lifetime, all-time, primetime, GOAT achievement tribute award… It means a lot to him, as most of the awards on his trophy shelf are shaped like popcorn buckets, blimps, or fake mini Oscars that say ‘Father of the Year,’ which he unfortunately bought himself while wandering in a self-pitying fog through the main stores of Times Square.”
Sandler’s speech was peppered with a series of self-deprecating jokes about his career. When he began his film career in the late eighties, he said one of his guiding principles was “TBS needs content to show between all the crappy basketball games.” Of Big Daddyhe blurted out that his kids might remember the huge comedy as the movie that launched Cole and Dylan Sprouse’s careers or the movie that paid for their house, their grandmothers’ houses, Rob Schneider’s house, their braces, and Rob Schneider’s braces.
When discussing some of his “more serious” endeavors, which Punch Drunk Love and Uncut gemsSandler joked that these films “left audiences baffled as they pondered the mystery: How Bobby Boucher made me laugh, cry and sprint straight to church to ask God why he had blessed one man with more talent than the entire cast of That Poseidon Adventure and Mother Mia combined?”
Sandler and his daughters saved the most important “thank you” for last, with the comedian saying, “Thank you, Mom, for putting up with Dad and his crazy mood swings all these years. Now that’s truly an achievement worthy of an award for lifetime achievement.”
Sandler then dropped his voice, adding, “I appreciate everything… It means a lot. I had a great career, I had a great time making all these movies, and I thank everyone who worked hard on them. ”
Sandler received a warm introduction from Josh and Benny Safdie, the brothers who directed him in 2019’s Uncut gems (and who is reportedly working with Sandler on a new project). The couple recalled seeing Sandler on Saturday Night Live and listening to his 1993 comedy album, They will all laugh at you! with the sound turned down so their father wouldn’t hear.
Benny Safdie then ran through Sandler’s remarkable string of films from Billy Madison to Punch Drunk Love and went on to call Sandler “the industrial revolution of actors.” This prompted Benny to repeat, word for word, the classic “everyone in this room is now dumber” speech from the great academic decathlon scene in Billy Madison.
