As we made abundantly clear earlier this week, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are—to coin a phrase—a safe space for comedy. From the early quips of a Buck Henry or Kevin Pollack to more recent outings by laughmongers ranging from A (Fred Armisen) to V (Melissa Villaseñor), only the funniest 1% of carbon-based lifeforms are permitted to direct awards show traffic from our proprietary beachfront dais.
This year is no exception, which is why we’re thrilled today to announce the host of the Spirit Awards, 2024 edition: the wonderful, hilarious Aidy Bryant! Yup—Lil’ Baby Aidy. Comedian. Showrunner. Writer. Actor. SNL alumna. National treasure. And now? Spirit Awards host. Welcome to the club, Aidy!
“We’re thrilled to have the incandescently talented Aidy Bryant joining us to host the 39th annual Spirit Awards,” says Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “Through her humor, skill and seemingly endless supply of energy, she’s been entertaining audiences for years. We can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.”
The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards will return to the beaches of Santa Monica and will be streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s YouTube channel at 2:00 pm PT.
It will likely not shock you to hear that Bryant is a busy woman. With an overall deal at Universal Television to boast, the three-time Primetime Emmy nominee is currently in development on multiple projects, like the upcoming Peacock original, Lonely Hearts Club, produced—terrifyingly!—by Beau is Afraid’s Ari Aster. (Please Aidy, whatever you do, keep your head inside moving vehicles at all times!)
Luckily multitasking is nothing new for Bryant, who simultaneously starred “Live from New York!” on Saturday Night Live while also headlining her own Hulu original, Shrill, which she also co-created. Bryant wrapped up her decade-long run on SNL in 2022, while Shrill (which released its third and final season earlier this year) earned her an “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy” nom at the Emmys.
As far as who will be joining Bryant onstage on February 25 to potentially receive some frankly lethal Spirit Awards hardware, nominees for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be announced on December 5 (that’s next Tuesday, for those keeping score) at 7:00 am PT at filmindependent.org and in a special video on our YouTube channel—go ahead and like and subscribe to become our new BFF.
But wait—the Spirit Awards aren’t just another self-congratulatory Hollywood awards show full of beautiful, privileged folks sobbing uncontrollably over tiny (and, we cannot stress this enough, extremely dangerous) bird statues. No! The Spirit Awards are also Film Independent’s primary fundraiser for its year-round slate of programs cultivating the careers of emerging filmmakers and promoting diversity and inclusion across the film industry. Programs like Project Involve. In fact, 2023 marks 30 years of Film Independent Artist Development, which we’ve been celebrating all year with #AD30.
Want to vote for the winners of the 2024 Spirit Awards? Easy: just Become a Member today and receive screeners, not to mention year-round access to a plethora of virtual and in-person screenings, special events, education, workshops and more.
So once again, welcome Aidy. We hope your time with the Spirit Awards will be nothing short of a dream come true.
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(Lead image photo credit: Alexa Viscius)
