Adam Sandler might not be winning any Oscars this year, but that doesn’t mean he’s not taking home at least one big trophy: Along with several other awards scooped up by Uncut Gems, Sandler ended up winning Best Male Lead for his performance as manic “KG!” shouter Howard Ratner tonight at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Taking the stage, Sandler gave a speech that bridged the line between his comedic and more serious sides, adopting a Bobby Boucher-esque accent to give an acceptance ode in which he mocked himself and his competitors in equal parts.
“That was actually the last time critics pretended not to hate me for like 5 fuckin’ minutes,” he noted early on—in reference to Funny People, in which both he and show host Aubrey Plaza starred. He went on to greet his fellow nominees in the category as “the guys who lost a Film Independent Spirit Award to Adam Sandler.” He then went on to power through his thank yous to producer Scott Rudin (reminsicing about the time he told him, “No, those aren’t homeless rabbis; those are the Safdie brothers”) before dropping the voice at the last minute to get sincere for a bit. Besides thanking his wife and kids, Sandler took a special minute to thank everyone he worked with on all of his comedy films, giving them credit for making movies “that Noah and the Safdies liked enough to put me in their stuff.” (Given that he’d been cracking jokes about “wealthy sociopath” Billy Madison two minutes earlier, it came off as shockingly sweet.)
We’’ve got a full winners’ post—including the Safdies’ own brain-melting acceptance speech for Best Director—up over here. Meanwhile, we’ll just be over here, pining for that alternative universe where Sandler would have given a similarly high-energy Oscars speech tomorrow night.