Throwback Thursday: When Robin Williams gave the funniest acceptance speech ever for Jack Nicholson
The two legendary actors teamed up at the 2003 Critics Choice Awards, resulting in an unforgettable comedy moment.
The 8th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards in 2003 were a far-cry from the usual awards ceremony platitudes.
In the category of Best Actor there were three big names vying for the award. Daniel Day-Lewis was for ‘Gangs of New York’, Jack Nicholson for ‘About Schmidt’ and Robin Williams for ‘One Hour Photo’.
The final decision was a tie, with Day-Lewis and Nicholson sharing the award. When it came to the acceptance speeches Day-Lewis went first and gave thanks to his co-star and those who had worked on the movies, but Nicholson was not able to give quite such an erudite speech.
Nicholson began: “Well, I don’t usually get this baked when it’s on television... Robin, would you come up and give... Would you give the funniest acceptance speech I ever gave?”
Watching on from the audience, Williams bounded up on stage and delivered a surreal, comedic speech that left those in the room in fits of laughter.
Williams made a bold start to his second-person acceptance speech: “What Jack is trying to say here is he so happy to be here, he could drop a log.”
In 2003, Jack Nicholson won a Critics Choice Award but said he was too drunk to give a speech so he asked Robin Williams to give the funniest acceptance speech for him 😅 pic.twitter.com/1VgGv6W4By
— Todd Spence (@Todd_Spence) October 21, 2025
“Right now, he wants to thank Jeffrey Katzenberg for the lens,” he continued. “Hopefully Shaq kicked his ass tonight, but Jack, say it more because you’re dressed up tonight and wearing the sunglasses inside works even better. We also want to thank the set decorator for putting in the big balls for the last two minutes of the show, just to really put people at home.”
“I want to thank also the Irish people for right now. Thank all of you for being out there right now, because if it wasn’t for all the Irish, you wouldn’t have anything working in New York at all. Right now. God bless. And he scares the fuck out of me right now. Tell him Jack, tell him like it is buddy. Cause you’re the Buddha of showbusiness. Take it home.”
From there, a slightly drowsy Jack Nicholson finished off the speech and accepted his share of the award alongside Day-Lewis. But it was Robin Williams who had left the strongest, most indelible mark on the evening’s entertainment.
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