Cate Blanchett has been one of the rock stars of awards season, and with good reason: She was pretty great as a disgraced conductor in the drama Tár. Of course, she still has to fend off Michelle Yeoh at the Oscars, which are next week. But there are still some awards shows left, including the Independent Spirit Awards, which was held Saturday night. Host Hasan Minhaj was unsparing in taking on the show itself, which he pointed out wasn’t even airing on television but on YouTube and the IMDb. At one point he even embarrassed Blanchett so much she hid under a table.
Minhaj was trying to generate some breakout moments that would get the show trending on social media. So he went straight into the crowd itself. He finds himself at the Tár table, asking the two-time Oscar-winning actress to make “some unhinged expressions” that will make a good “YouTube thumbnail face.”
Blanchett wasn’t having it. Her hands were already blocking her face by the time Minhaj was hovering over their table, but after he demanded she do some viral work, she disappeared under the table. “Is she coming out the other end?” he eventually asked after she refused to resurface. She didn’t, so Minhaj moved onto the film’s director, Todd Field. Alas, he followed his lead under the table.
You can watch the bit in the video above, and you can watch Minhaj’s monologue in the video below.