Robert Downey Jr. sang, made out with a drag queen and picked up Harvard University’s Hasting Pudding Man of the Year award Thursday night as he poked fun at his numerous drug arrests and times in jail.
“I haven’t been this excited since playing pocket pool and watching animal planet this morning,” he said.
Downey hopped on stage in a dark gray suit over a gray crewneck sweater at the black tie affair preceding the opening performance of the club’s annual student-written production. Harvard junior and Hasty Pudding co-host Nicholas Ma told him he is a prolific actor who has made many movies – “six to your credit, eight to your discredit.”
The co-producers ripped on many of Downey’s career choices, including Rented Lips, Johnny B. Good and 2003’s Gothika.
After singing different lyrics to “Oh Where oh Where Has My Doggie Gone?” in an operatic voice, Downey put the sheet of paper down the front of Harvard junior and co-host Christine Otal’s strapless black dress.
“How are you feeling today, you nut-less wonder?” Downey asked an actor in a Tasmanian devil-like suit, mimicking the way his character in Gothika helped Halle Berry’s character remember she murdered her husband.
“I want you to know how much better I am than you, having worked through all my issues,” Downey said.
Chaplin, the movie for which Downey received an Academy Award nomination, inspired several stunts the actor had to perform to receive his award – a solid gold pudding pot.
“In Wonderboys you have a penchant for transvestites and college guys,” Ma said. “I’d like you to meet Ryan and Peter.”
In a scene similar to the premise of Downey’s Two Guys and a Girl he had to silently convince the two actors in drag that he loved them both while acting like Charlie Chaplin. He donned a cane, bowling hat and a snug wrap-around Hitler-like mustache.
“Is it bondage night already?” he said.
Downey proceeded to skip around stage, dip the golden-locked boy and kiss him, then poked the other wigged and short-skirted boy in the backside with his cane.
Downey also griped about the Wonder Woman-esque get-up he had to sport to win his pudding pot – an electric blue wig topped by a tiara and a feathered red bra with beaded tassels.
“What an actor has to go through to get a superhero spin-off at Warner Brothers,” he said as he held his pot.
“This is the first time a convicted felon has won this award,” Downey said.
He also offered the title to next year’s show: “I’m getting my act together and taking it up the rear.”
Downey said he did not know what he would do with his urn-like miniature pot.
“I don’t have any pets that are on their death beds, so I don’t know,” he said.
The roasters did not mention Downey’s criminal record, but the actor freely poked fun at his time in jail and how he got there in the first place.
“I can fasten a chig out of a can of tuna fish,” he said. “Something you future white-collared criminals should know.” He added that to loosen up serious Harvard students he “would start with a virulent dose of hallucinogens.”
If he was spending his time at Harvard, Downey said, he would major in art history, but he also offered a few different options for where he could be.
“In custody,” he said. “No – just to be here. I’d be a groundskeeper.” But he was quick to point out that “it’s nice to be here now and be able to give a clean piss test if I wanted to.”
Along with the solid-gold pudding pot, Downey Jr. received a gift basket worth $5,000 containing a Baume ‘ Mercier Hampton City watch, Cuban cigars, assorted chocolates and skincare products from Avon, among other items.
The Man of the Year Award is presented annually to performers who have made a “lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment,” according to the theatrical group’s website.
Other award winners include Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Stewart and Bob Hope, who received the first Man of the Year Award in 1967.
The 2004 Woman of the Year Award winner, Sandra Bullock, was honored last Thursday at the Hasty Pudding Theater.