On February 6th, The Hasty Pudding Theatricals celebrated the premiere night of their 177th production, Salooney Tunes by awarding Michael Keaton with the 59th Man of the Year award. The festivities began with a celebratory roast in Harvard's historic Farkas Hall, where show producers Cate Schwartz '27 and Ellie Tunnell '27 put the star through the wringer to earn his Pudding Pot.

They drew inspiration from Keaton's diverse catalog of masterful performances over his four-decade career, leaving no stone unturned. Shenanigans included dressing him up as Batman to battle a life-sized Academy Award and giving him a pink sparkly journal full of stand-up material that dissed Boston for him to recite. They theorized life in the spotlight and his transformative role as Ray Kroc in The Founder made him "forget what it's like to work a minimum wage job." To make up for this, students handed him a visor and an apron and ordered him to make a 9-patty burger before having him take a bite. They dove into his hobby as a fly fisher, using fishing rods to pull up a giant pair of underwear, a sparkly man-sserie with bat wings and bat signal lights, and the coveted pudding pot. This was nothing for Keaton, who smiled from ear to ear as he put on the set and posed for the cameras. The crowd roared as Keaton rushed upstairs for the press conference.

Keaton strided into the press room and joined Chaelon Simpson '26, Natalie Krevitt '26, and Cameron Miller '26 at the table, amused by the costumes and bright colored wigs. While a roast of this caliber might have felt like a curse from Beetlejuice for other stars, Keaton enjoyed his time in the hot seat, revealing, "When you come from the family from which I come, trust me, this is nothing." He cites his six siblings as the role that best prepared him for the roast. Instead of studying up on the night in store for him, he preferred to "keep it a surprise."

A reporter praised his beautiful piece in Time about Catherine O'Hara, specifically how he felt her presence was "Like breathing rarefied air." They asked if he remembered the time they first met. She, too, had six siblings, and while he can not remember the first time they met, he felt like she was always in his life. Before her rise to fame, he remembers that "Inside the comedy world she was already a goddess" and that he asked for her to play his ex-wife in the Boston-based film Game 6.

Following Boston producer Michael Kalish asked, "In The Founder Ray Kroc sells belief before he sells burgers. As an actor did that feel familiar? Convincing people first and then proving it." Keaton went on to unveil the most in-depth answer of the night, "Good question! Especially the observation about Ray. No, there is no way. How would I do that? You have to show up and do the job before anyone thinks you're anything. In terms of Ray Kroc, he was such an interesting person." He recalls his request to keep the ending "as accurate as we could, what he was really like, we don't sugarcoat it or soften it." He kept his comedy hat on, talking about how there were old wives' tales about the McDonald's brothers that he enjoyed learning about, remarking, "It's like husbands probably told bullshit stories. It's always old wives!" Even without knowing the story ahead of time, he was drawn to the script and the fact that Kroc "was an unbelievably hard worker, and so that was the thing I hung on to, you know, that determination. So in that sense, I guess he said, 'If I believe this will happen, I can make this happen,' then I guess that is how he worked."

Keaton joins a prestigious list of past honorees, including Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson, and last year’s recipient, Jon Hamm.

Keaton then returned to the theater to watch the premiere of Salooney Tunes, a knee-slapping, nail-biting heist-gone-wrong that follows notorious outlaw Robin Yablind and his fame-hungry sidekick Aiden N Abettin. They must find a way to avoid Mayor Gerri Mandarin and pregnant Sheriff Carrie N Twins, who are on the hunt to put them behind bars. Chock-full of lovable characters like skittish saloon owner Bart Ender, sultry saloon-singer Sarah Problem, and twelve-year-old dancer Anna Fivesix-Fivesixseveneight, Salooney Tunes's twists and turns will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Next week, actress Rose Byrne will receive the 76th Woman of the Year award. To purchase tickets to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 177th production and Woman of the Year event, visit https://www.hastypudding.org/buy-tickets/, email tickets@hastypudding.org, or contact the HPT Box Office at (617)-495-5205. The show will be performed at Harvard University’s historic Farkas Hall at 12 Holyoke Street from February 7th to March 8th. The company then travels to NYC for performances on March 13th and 14th. They will then travel to Bermuda for performances from March 18th to 20th.