Hasty Pudding Roasts Man of the Year Kiefer Sutherland

Emmy Award-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland defused a costumed bombshell Friday night while being roasted as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals 2013 Man of the Year.

Sutherland, best known for his portrayal of counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on the Fox television series “24,” was required to “disarm” a bombshell—a Pudding cast member clad in a blonde wig and minidress, strapped with three multicolored wires—to earn his traditional Pudding Pot.

Sutherland was honored Friday in front of a packed audience in The Regattabar, a jazz club in The Charles Hotel. The festivities had originally been scheduled to take place in Farkas Hall, the home of the Pudding Theatricals, but it was relocated after Harvard shut down operations at noon on Friday due to Boston’s fifth biggest snowstorm on record.

As the snow swirled outside, Sutherland disarmed the bombshell with the assistance of a variety of colorful characters, all played by Pudding actors, who instructed him which color wires to snip.

First, he planted a kiss on Crimson business editor and Pudding cast member Adam J. Conner ’14, who played Cardinal Richelieu, the villain in Sutherland’s film “The Three Musketeers.”

Next, he helped his “The Three Musketeers” co-star Charlie Sheen, portrayed by Phil M. Gillen ’13, round up a pair of Pudding performers in garb as drugged cows.

Finally, Sutherland, an avid guitar player and collector, played a riff on an electric guitar to win the help of the late rockstar Freddie Mercury of the band Queen, played by Pudding cast member Ethan D. Hardy ’14.

When he succeeded in defusing the bombshell, Sutherland was presented with his award, though not before cast members donned him with high heels and a bomb-strapped bra.

Pudding producers Tyler R. Lewis ’14 and Peter M. Riley ’14 began the roast by poking fun at a few of Sutherland’s early-career films, including “Mirrors” and “The Right Temptation,” which were widely panned by critics.

Riley quipped, “[‘24’] marked the point in his career when our Man of the Year began disarming bombs rather than starring in them.”

Sutherland took the jabs well. “I could have made more fun of myself than you did,” he said.

Sutherland praised the Pudding, saying he was impressed with the performers he had met that day. “The people here have been so gracious, and I have so much respect for all of you to even get into this goddamn place,” he said.

The Harvard Krokodiloes also performed for Sutherland after he received his award. Though Pudding members had intended to debut their 165th production “There’s Something About Maui” in Farkas Hall following the roast, they instead gave the crowd a preview in The Regattabar. They performed a few numbers from the show, wearing only the headpieces of their costumes.

Sutherland's roast follows that of actress Marion Cotillard, who was honored on Jan. 31 as the 2013 Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.

—Staff writer Elizabeth S. Auritt can be reached at eauritt@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @eauritt.