The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is typically known for flashes of big-deal inspiration: tearful speeches, one-off supergroup performances, broken-up bands reuniting after decades, iconic artists paying tribute to late collaborators. But one of the Hall’s most memorable moments was born out of irreverence. Progressive rock giants Yes were inducted in 2017, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman flipped the format on its head, delivering six minutes of hilarious (and often raunchy) comedy that basically functions like a stand-up set.
Wakeman took the microphone after more conventional comments from Yes members past and present: singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Trevor Rabin, drummer Alan White, and guitarist Steve Howe, the latter of whom read prepared remarks that seemed to aim for rock grandeur. “Nothing can take away the response we’ve gotten from our fans, who obviously have a different ear from the general music lovers, fortunately for us,” he said. It offered a perfect tonal contrast to Wakeman’s six-minute onslaught of silliness.
“Does this thing go up?” Wakeman asked off the bat, attempting to adjust the mic. “Story of my life, at my age.”
The jokes arrived in rapid-fire succession, accentuated by the virtuoso’s deadpan delivery. “I’m very happy here for a couple reasons to be in Brooklyn,” he said. “One is the fact obviously of being in Yes and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The other is something I really probably shouldn’t tell you: Less than half a mile away from this very building was where I had my very first meaningful sexual experience. [Applause.] No, no, no, please. It wasn’t very good. It never is when you’re on your own.”
The audience seemed to laugh with genuine shock at some of his more risqué jokes, including a later one about his sex life. Other punchlines were more tame and surreal, in a kind of Monty Python vein, like one about a past family business venture and another involving parental wisdom. “My father was an Elvis impersonator,” he said. “Well, there wasn’t much call for that in 1947, but he taught me a lot. I remember he sat me down once and said, ‘Son, don’t go to any of those really cheap, dirty, nasty, sleazy strip clubs because, if you do, you’ll see something you shouldn’t. So of course I went—and I saw my dad.”
He probably earned his biggest laughs at the end, unfolding a thread that touched on pee breaks and prostates.
“I’d like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame very much for inducting us,” he said, winding down. “The only thing I would say—I’m glad that we’re actually up third [in the order of inducted bands] because, as you get older, the old things like the prostate start acting up a bit, and the distance between comfort breaks gets less and less. But I would like to say, quite seriously, how important it is to have the old examination, which I had indeed on Monday. For you ladies who don’t know, it’s really tough. You have to get in the old fetal position, and you hear the old plastic glove go on, the rubber glove. Then it’s like a gopher going on holiday inside you. While I was having my examination, the doctor said to me, ‘Mr. Wakeman, there’s no need to be embarrassed. It’s not unusual to get an erection at this kind of procedure. I said, ‘I haven’t got an erection.’ He said, ‘I know, but I have.’”
Fans were quick to show their appreciation for the keyboardist’s sharp wit. “Rick Wakeman had to join a rock band in 1971 and wait 46 years to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in order to finally live his dream of being a stand-up comedian!” someone wrote in the YouTube comments. “Now that’s perseverance and determination!”
Outside of his incredible keyboard playing on albums like Yes’ Fragile and Close to the Edge, Wakeman has become beloved for his sense of humor—not a quality people often associate with prog rock. As he musician told Rolling Stone after the Rock Hall ceremony, he’s done “a lot of TV stuff in England,” including BBC Two’s Grumpy Old Men, and, as a result, accumulated “a huge pool of one-liners and general stories.” He’s also displayed that knack for joke-telling on his subsequent solo tours.
The Rock Hall speech, he told Rolling Stone, was a natural extension of that personality and presentation. “I don’t like self-gratification, so I didn’t want to go, ‘Oh, how great the band has been’ and all that kind [of thing] because people are very kind,” he said. “People have said that anyway, which is really very nice. So I just wanted to have a bit of fun, really…For an event like this I thought long and hard: Do I go on and thank all the different guys in the band that I’ve played with? Everyone is going to say that. A lot of it is understood. so I thought I’d just have a bit a fun, but I’m never blue. I never do that.”
