Let’s Not Be Hasty

Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals has named Scarlett Johansson and Ben Stiller Woman and Man of the Year. On February 15, Johansson will be honored with a parade through Harvard Square followed by a roasting; Stiller will be roasted on February 23. Both will receive the illustrious Pudding Pot for agreeing to be the butt of the joke.

For those not familiar with the Pudding, prepare to have your idea of our nation’s intellectually minded youth changed forever. The event involves student-written comedy (always a red flag), and more interestingly, men in women’s clothing. They call it “burlesque,” but we all know that’s just a fancy word for drag.

The Woman of the Year award was established in 1951, the Man of the Year in 1963, to honor performers who have made a “lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.” Of course what the award actually honors is performers who have made a lasting impression on a bunch of really, really smart people.

By having appeared in films directed by both Sofia Coppola and Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson already has a kind of thinking person’s cache, even if she is dating Justin Timberlake. But what about Ben Stiller?

Not since his profile in the January 24, 2005 issue of The New Yorker has the man behind Zoolander been at the center of such high-minded commentary. Though the profile wasn’t entirely positive, Stiller was defended by a fellow actor in a subsequent letter to the editor.

Ah, if only Robert DeNiro or Anthony Hopkins had written that letter, opinions might have changed. But as it was Owen Wilson wielding the pen, one was left with more than a few lingering doubts.