Yes Induction Acceptance Speeches Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017

Members of the band Yes including Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman and Alan White give their acceptance speeches at the 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Barclays Center in New York City.

[Ed]

Clearly a man who wore a cape most of his career would have a sharp sense of humor.

[scottlalexander]

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! Now that’s perseverance and determination!

[davekirby]

I interviewed Wakeman about six months after this, and brought this up. He said he asked Rabin before they went on whether he should do these jokes, and Rabin urged him to do it. TrainInVain guy got it exactly right - Wakeman said that no one cares about hearing about the inductees' grandmother or whatever. Everyone takes their speeches too seriously. He said he just wanted to have a bit of fun and wanted everyone to lighten up a bit. This was, remember, when Howe was extremely distressed about Anderson going out on tour playing Yes music and felt that he and Wakeman were promoting a competing (and lessor) version of the band, presumably to Howe's detriment. Wakeman's attitude was, basically, c'mon guys, we're all in our sixties and seventies. We've all done well and have a lot to be thankful for. We're too old for petty nonsense.

Rick is a funny guy....and one hell of a pianist.

[stevenhunter]

I love seeing Geddy and Alex cracking up during Wakeman's speech.

[scottnewman]

Jon seems like a little hippie elf. Peace and love

[JoeGarchar]

Rick Wakeman is one of the infamous secret Monty Python society members. Thank God for his musical abilities and sense of humor. I have been a Yes fan for 47 years and it's long overdue for Yes and all of its members and don't forget keyboardist Tony Kaye.

[theuserjoan]

“Ok, I’m Steve Howe.”

*Intense applause*

[carterelliottmusic]

Jon: Hello, everybody!
Trevor: Hi, there!
Alan: Hi, everyone! Thank you!
Rick: Thank you!
Steve: *OK I'M STEVE HOWE*

[Qolus]

For anyone wondering, Jon was probably NOT high. That's just him. 😀 I like Steve's speech. Obviously Rick was the best, glad they saved him for last.

[MichaelSRQ]

Who knew Rick Wakeman was a comedian in addition to a keyboardist extraordinaire?

[danmccarthy]

Who would've thought a dude who wears a cape while playing music would be hilarious behind a mic?

[JP-pmhj]

Jon’s speech: serious/funny
Trevor’s speech: funny/happy
Alan’s speech: happy/serious
Steve’s speech: serious/serious
Rick’s speech: funny/funny

[forbes]

I have been using Wakeman's rectal exam joke for weeks now...never fails to get a huge laugh.

[pilsnrimgaard]

00:56. If you look closely Rick Wakeman is complimenting Geddy on his bass playing and how happy he was for him to sit in for Chris. Class act Mr Wakeman is. Him and Alex Lifeson are probably the funniest guys in Prog rock hands down!

[GraemeWilliams]

When Jon says, "life has passed me by so fast...." and there's a shot of Close to the Edge in the background. That's poetic.

[TheSateef]

wow, after Rick Wakeman's speech i'm starting to think Alex has met his match

[starcloister]

Everyone else: meaningful heartfelt speeches.

Rick: Hold my beer, watch this.

[skybluemarshall]

For the record, Anderson and Rabin put Wakeman up to it. They told him to go for it and do his comedy thing, backstage, before they came out. Wakeman finds most acceptable speeches to be repetitive and boring. Everyone knows the band's history and all of the thank yous puts the audience to sleep.

It wasn't hard to convince Wakeman to improvise some jokes, but he had to think about it and come up with a solution in a very short amount of time, because most of his comedy is based on old stories and anecdotes with lengthy set ups.

He had to quickly figure out how to piece together a string of one liners and work them into something that vaguely resembled a thank you speech. I think he did an excellent job for a freestyle bit.

[janaembree]

My husband-a muscian- loved YES. He introduced me to them. He passed in 2008 and they were not inducted until years later...They were inducted on his birthday, unreal. He was a huge fan of Chris Squire and we played Chris's cover of Amazing Grace at his funeral...plus a couple of YES songs. So sorry he missed this induction

[barryispuzzled]

Rick Wakeman is a great stand-up comic! He could entertain us for a whole evening just doing that! :)