Hey-o and Happy Monday to all you funny name lovers! Last night was the 2nd most glamorous night of the year in Southern California, right behind the annual San Diego Kale Festival. It’s a blast.
That’s right, I’m talking about the Academy Awards. To our great delight watching at home, a number of funny named winners, nominees and attendees were present for the festivities yet again. Let us begin our recap of the evening’s best named participants.
Lupita N’yongo, a Mexican-born, Kenyan-raised, Yale-trained actress took home the Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in 12 Years a Slave. Her fine, touching, eloquent speech hinted at those cultured origins and one must say having seen the film that the award was most deserved. Let us yelp out three N’yongos in her honor.
Also among great things in life, this magnificent Cumberbatch photobomb. What a man.
My second favorite winner by name has to be sound mixer Skip Lievsay, who won his first Oscar in five tries for the space adventure Gravity. His team is full of finely named folks, Skip sharing the award shared with Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro. Congrats to these fine sound persons.
In Sound Editing, the award also went to Gravity, which meant that Wylie Stateman and Brent Burge were among the runners-up. They certainly deserve solid name awards if nothing else.
In the adorable old lady category, Dame Judi Dench had strong competition from June Squibb, who in addition to her wonderfully fun to say name, also put together a terrific performance in Nebraska. The film Nebraska, not just the state. I’m sure many people have done wonderful performances in Nebraska for various reasons, but they wouldn’t be celebrated at the Academy Awards now, would they silly? Pffft.
Speaking of Judi Dench, her film Philomena co-starred and was written by Steve Coogan, whose name I’ve always enjoyed. Go on, say it a few times. Coogan. Coogan. Coogan. Good stuff.
Finally, a shoutout to the Cinematography category, where Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki edged out Phedon Papamichael at the ceremony. Great names all around.
Did y’all watch the show too? See something super funny I forgot to mention? Write on in below the line.
The Blog of Funny Names 
Well done, Arto. And I never knew about the Kale Festival. What have I been missing? 🙂
It’s apparently pretty awesome, even thought it’s not completely about kale. Arto should tell you more. He was actually there!
I also like to say “Lorna Luft” when I saw her sitting out there next to her sister, Liza Minnelli.
Ooh, excellent call. Forgot all about Ms. Luft!
I’d also like to add a special mention to Idina Menzel, or as John Travolta called her when introducing her, Adel Dazim.
Right?!?! What was that ?!?!
Was also lovely to see so many funny named musicians: Karen O, Bono, The Edge, Pharrell Williams …
Karen O is AMAZING! Saw her at the Coachella Arto bailed on in 2006 😛 And I’ve been getting back into U2 again after several years of dormancy.
P.S. How bummed must Cate Blanchett be feeling that her Best Actress win got trumped by a much funnier-named condender’s Best Supporting Actress? Them’s the breaks! I’m sure she’s feeling okay about everything today 🙂
Did anyone else actually yell out three Nyong’os? Because I did!
N’yongo N’yongo N’yongo!
brent burge was born to be a sound man.
So true! What a name! It’s got all those awesome plosive consonant sounds. *Removes nerd hat* (Just kidding… it’s permanently affixed! 🙂 )
Spike Jonze, right? Also, the animated short Mr Hublot took home the gold 🙂 And with all respect, because I love the woman and so does everyone else on the planet, DeGeneres is a pretty good name. Four “e”s strung together by five different consonants. Crazy stuff.
Enjoyed your recap, Arto. You were closer to the action than any of us. Could you feel the power? Smell the pizza?
Mmmmmmm…. pizza!
I did have Spike in mind while I was writing but somehow he snuck out without ending up in the final draft! That Spike, always sneaking around unnoticed. Well, he’s got an oscar so perhaps he will forgive my oversight.
I feel like I could smell the pizza. That delivery man certainly got a sizable tip, unless L.A pizza prices are as high as their beer prices, so good for him.
Good call on DeGenerous. It’s a nicely punnable name as well, being so close to a few lovely adjectives.
Phedon Papamichael is probably my favorite of all the amazing names in this post!
Lastly, I like the fact that TWO triple yelps made it into this post: N’yongo, N’yongo, N’yongo! Coogan, Coogan, Coogan! So much goodness! A double triple yelp sounds like a double triple axel, so we’re kind of continuing with that winter Olympics trend. Not really. But it’s fun to relive the glory days!
Always living the glory days, Dave. It’s a good time to be alive. Coogan Coogan Coogan!
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