The Britannia Awards have been presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Los Angeles each year since 1989. Since then, the ceremony has served to bridge the sometimes disparate film worlds of Britain and Hollywood. The group of honorees over the past 30 years is a select bunch of talented figures in the television and film industries. The addition of the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy in 2010 allowed for new opportunities to highlight the best and brightest within the comedic realm. It also allowed for some excellent acceptance speeches.
Such selective comedy awards as the Charlie Chaplin Britannia or the renowned Mark Twain Prize for American Humor give the recipient advanced notice. The possibility of a highly scripted speech has allowed for some truly outstanding comedic moments, such as Sacha Baron Cohen “killing” an elderly woman said to be the last living person to have performed with Charlie Chaplin in his Britannia speech, or Will Ferrell “breaking” his Mark Twain Prize statue before reading out an entire monologue dedicated to its beauty.
However, this does lead to some pressure: if you’re selected out of millions of comedians to receive an award for being funny, you’d better be funny when accepting it. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel before her Mark Twain ceremony, Julia Louis–Dreyfus said, “They’re giving you an award for being comedic and now they’re saying at the same time ‘now prove that you deserve it with a speech." Obviously, she "was s***ing [herself]."
Louis–Dreyfus’ Mark Twain Prize ceremony in 2018 was marvelously enjoyable, and contained heaping praise for her work on Seinfeld and Veep, amongst other projects. Her speech that she was so worried about went off without a hitch—aside from a last minute shoe emergency. It was great—she did Elaine’s dance from Seinfeld while reciting Shakespeare. What more can you ask for?
It turns out that this is not a rhetorical question. If you're an obsessed Louis–Dreyfus fan, you may have dug through the archives of Youtube and discovered her other acceptance speeches spanning her impressive career. Amy Poehler revealed in her autobiography Yes Please that she was responsible for many of the jokes organized amongst the Emmy nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. However, in each of her six wins in a row, Louis–Dreyfus tried to include little, humorous quips or gags of her own, such as inviting Tony Hale to hold her purse, mirroring his role from Veep. Eventually, after getting through all of her many American awards you will have found her Britannia speech. It’s a few years older, but really takes the cake in terms of comedy.
Louis–Dreyfus has noted that she is a comedic actress by training rather than a stand–up comedian or comedy writer. This isn't a weakness, though; her acting ability allowed her to completely dive into her most famous roles—Elaine Benes, Christine Campbell, Selina Meyer—and create fully fleshed–out characters.
In her Britannia speech, she takes advantage of her talents to perform in the role of the self–absorbed celebrity. After a brief moment of seriousness and gratitude, she begins to create a vapid persona immensely impressed by the British, but remarkably clueless about their culture and celebrities. Eventually, she admits that she doesn’t have a speech written, but luckily, Armando Iannucci, head Veep writer, is there to save the day. Iannuci hands her a piece of paper and her reading glasses—and this is where things start to get crazy.
The first line reads: “The following should be read quickly and preferably in a standard, non–regional British dialect." The two minutes that ensue contain a genius caricature of Brits that evidently had some actual contributions from Iannucci, but is elevated to a superb comedic level by Louis–Dreyfus' willingness to go all in with her performance. I won’t spoil all of the jokes, but a reference to her gratitude towards Sir Jerome Seinfeld and Lady Lawrence David is one of my favorite moments.
In summary, Julia Louis–Dreyfus is one of the most talented comedic actors of all time, and this clip is a terrific exemplification of that fact. You should watch the speech, then the entirety of her filmography, and then the speech again, so you can fully appreciate it.
