Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Hasty Pudding ceremony was all about his Seth Rogen impression
“Here’s a joint and some Funyuns!’’
Should it surprise anyone that Joseph Gordon-Levitt might possibly be the best Seth Rogen impersonator? Nah. That’s probably what this whole award is for, anyway.
The actor came to Cambridge on Friday to accept his Man of the Year award from Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the country’s oldest existing theater group. There, JGL was met with Hasty Pudding’s funnest Man of the Year tradition: a roast led by Hasty Pudding’s finest diss-dishers.
On stage, Kennedy Edmonds and Lily Yarborough of Hasty Pudding served up most of the jokes, which unsurprisingly had many swipes at Harvard’s competing Ivy school and JGL’s alma mater, Columbia.
But Gordon-Levitt welcomed it all, and by the end, he joked that he was humbled to be honored by the “bullying program.’’ Of the many burns the Hasty Pudding crew tossed at him, here were some of the harshest:
— “Joe played Tommy Solomon on the hit TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun and himself on Where Are They Now?“
— “Our 50th Man of the Year dropped out of Columbia University. He got upset when his classmates didn’t ask him, ‘why didn’t you go back into acting?’’’
— “Actually, you know that that role [in Inception] was actually offered to James Franco, but it turned out, he was too busy actually graduating from Columbia University.’’
— “Hey Joe, all jokes aside: G.I. Joe lost $25 million.’’
Like the champion he is, JGL also accepted many of their dares, like asking him to seduce a cow, do a sexy dance for a Russian porn star, and of course, try his best impression of his fellow acting buddy Seth Rogen.
After accepting his pudding pot at the end of the roast, Gordon-Levitt’s last few moments were spent offering some wholesome JGL insight, including how he stays optimistic in Hollywood as a creative person.
“It’s easy to be cynical, and that’s because the world around us sort of deserves a cynical reaction,’’ Gordon-Levitt said. “But a good friend of mine said something that I really love: ‘It’s easy to say what you’re not. It’s hard to say what you are.’’’
Then he added, “And I met her at Columbia by the way.’’
More scenes from Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Hasty Pudding ceremony:
[bdc-gallery id=”465441″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com