The Highs, Lows and Wildest Moments From the 2024 Critics Choice Awards

Emily Blunt and 'Oppenheimer' costars.

Awards season is upon us! And we're back for a crazy double header this weekend with the Critics Choice Awards and Emmy Awards back-to-back. First up on Sunday night was the CCAs, awards voted on by critics and passed out to many of the biggest names in movies and television. As expected, the evening, hosted by Chelsea Handler, included impassioned winner speeches, quippy jokes, and unforgettable red carpet looks. Of course, there were also plenty of weird, wild and unexpected things that happened as well.

Here's a rundown of all the evening's biggest, most memorable moments:

The highs, lows and wildest moments that happened at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards

High: Chelsea Handler's opening monologue (and dig at Jo Koy)

Only a week after her ex-boyfriend Jo Koy crashed and burned while delivering his opening monologue at the Golden Globes, Handler (who returned as host for the second year in a row) delivered a masterclass in comedy. Using the themes "the year of women" and "the year of horniness" as her cornerstones, "Microdose Barbie" delivered witty jokes aimed at David Zaslav and other studio execs, Gwynth Paltrow's ski trial and the fact the show aired on The CW. Last week, when his jokes were bombing, Koy blamed his writers, and when the CCA audience laughed at one of her jokes, Handler said "My writers wrote it" as a subtle dig at Koy.

Related: The Best, Worst and Wildest Moments from the 2024 Golden Globe Awards

High: Robert Downey Jr. reads critics negative reviews of him

After winning the Best Supporting Actor trophy for Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. delivered a fun speech in which he read off criticism that the Critics Choice Association voters had leveled at him over the years including one writer calling him, "amusing as a bedlocked fart."

Wild: Giving out multiple awards at the same time

In an odd bid to save time, the CCAs called multiple winners to the stage at once where one gave a speech, while the other hovered at the side waiting for their turn. First up was Jonathan Bailey and Maria Bello, who won for Supporting Actor/Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television. It's unclear how much time the strategy saved throughout the night, but the winners seemed to get the hang of it quickly. Bailey's speech included the witty line "Matt and I come together" when thanking his Fellow Travelers costar Matt Bomer."

Low: Speeches read off pieces of paper

We're nearly 100 years into film/TV award shows and people are still bringing up ratty scraps of paper to read boring speeches off of. Da'Vine Joy Randolph repeated this strategy from the Golden Globes and was joined by Jonathan Bailey, Ayo Edebiri (who was ultimately still entertaining) and others. As a note to future winners, please either memorize your speech or just speak off the cuff.

Low: Meryl Streep won an award but wasn't there to accept it

A loss for all fans of Meryl's fun acceptance speeches.

High: America Ferrera's winning the SeeHer Award

The Real Women Have Curves, Ugly Betty and Barbie actor received the award that recognizes women who "advocate for gender equality, portray characters with authenticity, defy stereotypes and push boundaries." Margot Robbie introduced Ferrera reminding audiences that Ferrera is the first and only Latina to win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy. Ferrara (despite some teleprompter difficulties) gave a rousing speech about representation and female empowerment, and the power of the message of Barbie.

High: "I'm Just Ken" wins Best Original Song

Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For" has been the frontrunner in this category, so it was fun to see a bit of an upset with Mark Ronson's Ken ballad winning.

Related: Critics Choice Awards Red Carpet 2024: See the Hottest Fashion Worn by Your Favorite Film and TV Stars

High: Ayo Edebiri delivers another incredible speech

After her delightfully unhinged Golden Globes acceptance speech, The Bear's Edebiri delivered another memorable, rambling victory speech here. At one point she heard an airplane taking off and interrupted herself thinking it was the music playing her off before realizing it was a jet. At another she wondered if her relatives abroad had The CW. Perhaps most fun for her fans, however, was the nod to Ireland, which is a callback to a running joke that she's Irish based on a Letterbox'd interview where she claimed to have played the donkey in Banshees of Inisherin.

High: Meg Ryan presented an award

She has effortless charm and charisma, and we desperately need her back in as many rom-coms as humanly possible.

Wild: Harrison Ford gave a VERY short speech accepting the Career Achievement Award

After an incredible clip montage that reminded viewers of just HOW MANY legendary movies and TV shows Harrison Ford has stared in over the years, his acceptance speech was very short and to the point. He commented on the state of the industry, said he was a product of a lot of luck, thanked his wife and exited the stage.

Wild: Kieran Culkin discusses his ear hair

Only a week after discussing his burps at the Golden Globes, Culkin discussed his wife and costar Sarah Snook pulling his ear hairs during his acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Drama for Succession.

Wild: Emma Stone and Paul Giamatti win in upsets

After an evening of low-key bland and expected winners where Barbie and Oppenheimer split every technical category and most of the major awards, Emma Stone taking the win over Killers of the Flower Moon's Lily Gladstone was a shocker. That was shortly followed up by Paul Giamatti beating Cillian Murphy in Best Actor as well. This solidified the pair as frontrunners going forward.

Low: Boring, expected repeat winners

Only a week after the Golden Globes, a great number of the winners at the Critics Choice Awards repeated leading to a series of fairly expected ho hum victories. Beef, The Bear and Succession scooped up wins on the TV side while Barbie and Oppenheimer won nearly every film award available. It all begged the question: Have critics watched more than just three TV shows and two movies in the last year?

High: Oppenheimer asserted itself as the Oscar frontrunner

While Oppenheimer and Barbie went head-to-head for most of the evening on the film side, it was ultimately Oppenheimer that prevailed, taking home the most wins of the evening. Christopher Nolan's epic won eight awards including Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Cinematography, Score, Visual Effects, Editing, Acting Ensemble, Director and Picture. Barbie came in second with six wins.

Next, The 2024 Critics Choice Awards Complete List of Winners