Hasan Minhaj refuses to leave his PowerPoints at home. Hosting the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, Minhaj brought his colorful graphics and suits to the stage during his opening monologue. He uses a comparison to Golden Globes’ host Jerrod Carmichael’s salary to emphasize the differences between the Independent Spirit Awards to other awards shows. “I’m literally making one/one-thousandth of what he made,†he joked. Minhaj continued by calling out IFC for not distributing the Spirit Awards for the first time ever this year, as it was televised in years prior. “We literally do not have a distributor… The Independent Film Channel did not want the Independent Film Awards,†he explained before diving into IFC’s programming for the evening: Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro.
Throughout his monologue, Minhaj called on Nicholas Braun, Malala, Paul Mescal, and Quinta Brunson for some crowd work, but Brunson was the only one to play along. Minhaj took one final jab before kicking off the show to Deadline, from making fun of their headlines to their comment section. However, he thanked the nominees for driving all the way to the west side in Santa Monica to attend the live-streamed awards show, “Award shows are dead. My two-year-old watches slime videos with more views than the Oscars. But you all showed up, which means you’re truly in it for the love of the game.â€