…is absolutely hilarious (and NSFW) and puts what he thinks of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its proper perspective.
More Wakeman funny…
I had forgotten just how hilarious that RRHOF speech was. 
I recall seeing on Youtube an unedited version of the speech, and then later seeing the official redaction where most of the off-color stuff had been carefully edited out by the use of carefully timed cuts to different cameras. I thought he was often funny, but for most of stuff that was cut from the official version I tend to agree with the editors that it wasn’t appropriate for the ceremony. It’s not supposed to be a comedy club.
IMO he was upset that it had taken them so long to recognize not only Yes but Prog Rock and he didnt care about the RRHOF.
There is an interview where he explains his speech. It boils down to the fact that he thinks acceptance speeches are often boring and he wanted to liven things up a bit. He had no intention of disrespecting the ceremony.
A long interview, but the RRHOF speech explanation is the very first topic.
Not so much to disagree but to expand on this, in this long discussion he explained that he didnt care at all about Hall of Fames. Of course this is years before Yes was inducted.
“I never meant to be irreverant but I was bored shitless.” 
actually, this is not as funny if you knew the whole story.
At the time of the induction, there were two competing bands using the Yes name. There was ‘YesO’, the original Yes with legal rights to the name, comprising Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood, and Jon Davison, and there was ‘Yes featuring Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, and Trevor Rabin.’ The two camps were on pretty poor terms and it took a lot of arm twisting to get them to take the RRHoF stage together. Each of the current band members was invited to make short speeches of a couple of minutes. Wakeman’s speech was deliberately designed to run over time and to steal the limelight from the YesO guys.
But the heartbreaking thing is that the real victim of this shitty ploy was Scotty Squire, the widow of the late Chris Squire, who was unable to speak at all given Rick’s grandstanding.
I have been a Yes fan for 35 years and love everything about them. But Wakeman can be a real asshat…
More of Rick Wakeman being hilarious
j
Yup. I say this as someone for whom Yes was his first album and first concert, and who only stopped buying their albums after they begin fragmenting: this just struck me as a silly standup act wedged into a public honoring ceremony. I get that he doesn’t take it seriously, but in that sense it’s all about him, and he just craps on it for everyone else.
I sure hope that Jon Davison was not anywhere near this award ceremony, even if he was a “current member”.
Ridiculous. If it’s about anything, rock’n’roll is about tearing down phony facades and self-congratulatory bs. His speech was the best thing to ever happen at a Hall of Fame Ceremony. Hell , Wakeman should MC every year.