The Longest (And Briefest) Acceptance Speeches at the Oscars

Winning an Oscar is arguably the biggest achievement any actress or actor can dream of. It just comes with one caveat: the dreaded acceptance speech. There you are, it’s the biggest moment of your life, hundreds of millions of people are watching and you have 45 seconds to deliver a speech that shows you’re funny, gracious and deserving of the award that has been given to you.

In that moment, some people tend to choke while others start rambling on until the orchestra not so subtly tells them to (finally) clear the stage. We’ve had a look at the Academy’s transcripts of all speeches delivered by actors over the past 25 years to find out who packed the most words into his or her acceptance address.

Turns out that two of the longest speeches were given as recently as last year, when both Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett rambled on for more than 500 words. The shortest speech of the past 25 years was given by Joe Pesci in 1990: “It’s my privilege. Thank you!” was all he had to say after winning the Oscar for his performance in Good Fellas.