Tim Robbins, Man of the Year

Tim Robbins, who has dramatized the injustices of the American legal system on film, was confined to an on-stage prison of puns last night as members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals (HPT) roasted their newest Man of the Year.

For about 20 kitschy minutes, HPT members mercilessly mocked the lauded actor, writer, and director. Robbins fired back with good-humored quips of his own before being rewarded with the venerable student group’s traditional article of shiny golden crockery.

“It doesn’t get much better than getting the Pudding Pot, does it?” asked Robbins in a private interview with The Crimson yesterday afternoon.

Speaking to The Crimson in a small room downstairs at HPT’s 12 Holyoke St. building, Robbins was sanguine about the effect his latest honor would have on his everyday life.

“I will carry the Pudding Pot wherever I go, to gain entry to exclusive restaurants, nightclubs and political events,” he proclaimed.

In a statement earlier this month, Robbins—who took home an Oscar last year for his supporting role in Mystic River—called receiving the Pudding’s prize “an experience of exaltation rivaled only by the birth of one’s children, being named the new Dalai Lama, or by being found not guilty on all charges.”

PUDDING ON AIRS

As the hour of Robbins’ arrival at the Pudding drew nigh, four spotlight beams swung across the industrial walls of neighboring Holyoke Center. Inside, the 117-year-old theater filled with tuxedoed men and women in chic eveningwear. An air of decidedly old-Harvard mirth descended as attendees hobnobbed and perused the program for HPT’s 157th annual musical, Terms of Frontierment. The show, which opened following the Man of the Year ceremony, adhered to the Pudding’s tradition of casting exclusively male actors in all parts.

Taking the stage at 8:15 p.m. to a bopping orchestral rendition of “Rockin’ Robin,” Robbins braced for the onslaught. In the minutes that followed, HPT producers Charles E. Worthington ’06 and Romina Garber ’06, who is also a Crimson editor, entertained the audience with costumed gags and frequent jabs at the less successful projects in the actor’s back catalog.

“I was poor, I was starving,” Robbins said apologetically of his role as Phil Blumburtt in notorious 1986 turkey Howard the Duck. “It was George Lucas. He had just done Star Wars.”

Over the course of the roast, Robbins was harassed by a boldly-attired gumshoe who challenged him with “outstanding offenses,” a literal “parole board”—a large piece of plywood with the word “PAROLE” in block letters—and a trio of drag-wearing picketers protesting films including Antitrust and Mission to Mars.

“That’s OK, it’s America, we can do that,” chuckled the proponent of free expression in art and politics.

“But I can also do this!” he added, spinning to make a lewd gesture at his on-stage critics and mouth a distinct “fuck you.”

Several punchlines relied on the political ideals espoused by the star, who has long used his celebrity as a platform to highlight issues of social justice. Robbins has written and directed films including 1995’s Dead Man Walking, about a nun’s efforts to help a convicted killer on death row, and 1999’s Cradle Will Rock, a vivid portrayal of leftist stagecraft in the Great Depression.

“You can’t understand your enemy until you walk a mile in his shoes,” Robbins said wryly when presented with a Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign poster.

Politics also crept into the darts Robbins lobbed at his roasters’ very existence towards the end of the ceremony.

“Perhaps if George Bush had been president 20 years ago and there were abstinence programs in place...,” he began, trailing off. “Oh, you know they don’t work,” he continued after a moment. “We’d have the same people here.”

Robbins donned blonde curls and a prison-striped brassiere while amiably accepting kisses from cross-dressed students at the roast’s conclusion. Grinning in partial drag, the actor jestingly propositioned Garber for “a little girl-on-girl action.”

Earlier, when a black-and-white photo of former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower appeared on stage, Robbins attempted to seize it “for later.”

“Porno is acceptable for married men,” he said.

But Robbins firmly insisted that actress Susan Sarandon, his long-term partner, had been the Pudding’s sexiest Woman of the Year. Sarandon was feted by the Pudding in 1996.

In addition to the radiant Pudding Pot, a gift basket with products from local retailers valued at approximately $5,000, and the undergraduates’ constant stream of verbal barbs, Robbins received a motley shower of additional presents. Towards the beginning of the roast, he was offered a baggie of what appared to be faux marijuana, which he swiftly pocketed.

“I’ve been looking for that all day!” Robbins exclaimed to applause.

And at a press conference after the roast, Cambridge Mayor Michael A. Sullivan made a surprise appearance to bestow a key to the city on Robbins. Sullivan also took the opportunity, after 8:30 p.m., to formally proclaim February 17, 2005 “Tim Robbins Day.”

“[After] your performance and your ability to negotiate with Harvard students, we were thinking of bringing you back next time we needed to,” quipped the mayor.

—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.