Eric Kripke Accepts TV Icon Award at Astra Awards

This is a pretty big milestone for the guy who started all of this for us at the WFB, Eric Kripke. At the Astra Awards this evening, he was presented with the Astra TV Icon Award for his TV work for the shows Tarzan, Supernatural, Revolution, Timeless, The Boys, and Gen V.

The Boys stars Jack Quaid and Antony Starr presented the award, having a ton of sweet and funny things to say about working with and getting to know this wildly creative genius. After their speeches a brief clip was shown that featured snippets from all his TV shows (Supernatural was well represented!). Then the man himself came up to say some words that I would call quintessential Kripke. The speech was humorous but heartfelt as well, and Kripke made it very clear that the real icons are the people he’s had the pleasure to work with, and not himself (it’s those humble Ohio roots!).

As usual, Kripke started with a joke. “Buckle up for what’s always the best part of any awards show, the achievement speech from a dude you don’t recognize.”

From there, he recognized the fact that maybe this award shouldn’t really be about him, as grateful as he was for the honor. As usual, the tone was lighthearted and humble:

“Thank you to the Hollywood Creative Alliance, though at what point did you think “icon”? Was it the exploding penis, or the gratuitous gill fingering, or the extreme octopus fellatio, because God knows when I get up in the morning, take pills for my acid reflux, and go outside to clean up my dog’s diarrhea, I always whisper to myself ‘icon.’”

“I’m not super comfortable with this, because while I’m proud as hell of these shows, it’s really weird taking credit for the talent of literally thousands of other people. Like the actors, a bunch of whom are in the audience tonight. I saw them earlier and I’ll hug you at the party but I know there’s Supernatural in the house, I know there’s Timeless in the house, and I know there’s Boys and Gen V in the house. I love you so much. The studio and network were loaded with people who were helping make the show what it is and they are also in the crowd tonight. There are directors, and VPs and Emmy winning stunt coordinators…I can’t even take create as a writer because it’s the hive mind of the writers room that really break the story and save my ass a dozen times a day. For me, like that’s the most incredible, awesome, humbling, part of this job, and I’m sure you all agree, all the craftsmen and craftswomen, each are a stone cold fucking genius in what they do, and they all come together and they pour their highly specific talent in one thing that gets better than weirder than all of us. And that’s the best.”

Kripke mentioned his Ohio roots and how he wanted to be a filmmaker since he was nine years old. He worked hard to get into that writer’s room and once he got there, he wasn’t actually full of ideas. But he knew where to start with the theme:

“Every story I tell turns out to be about family. Sometimes it’s the one you’re born into, sometimes it the one you choose, but as my Dad drilled into my siblings in me, there’s three important things in life. Family, family and family. If you dig beneath the monsters and the time travel and the exploding penises, there really is one single through line, which is we live in a very scary, violent, and overwhelming world and now more than ever it’s really hard to hold onto hope. But if you can just take care of the person next to you, if you can just take care of the people you love and the people they love, then we go a shot. For me, that includes all the brilliant, funny and deeply strange people that I have the privilege of working with. They’re my family and seriously they’re the icons.”

Eric Kripke has been an inspiration to me since I started this crazy blogging thing back in 2007, and each time I’ve met him and interviewed him I echo what Jack Quaid and Antony Starr said about him ten fold. He’s the nicest man on the planet, and the most passionate about his craft. To me, he truly is the icon they chose to honor.

Congratulations Eric from all of us at the Winchester Family Business but especially from me, a fellow Ohio resident who’s inspired by your work on a daily basis. You inspire others too, and that’s why creative genius of all those talented people you recognized follow you with every show you do. Your passion is infectious! Thank you for just doing what you love and following that dream.

The full video can be found here:

full clip of antony starr and jack quaid presenting eric kripke with the astra icon award pic.twitter.com/my7W8EJwLk

— Natalie ❁ (@livelyackles) January 9, 2024