Luckily for us animation nerds, the past weekend wasn’t just about football. The 38th Annual Annie Awards were given out and among the honorees was everyone’s favorite animation director and all-around bad-ass, Brad Bird. Brad received a Windsor McCay award along with Eric Goldberg and Matt Groening. Here’s how the Annie Awards describes the honor:

Named in honor of animator Winsor McCay, best known as a prolific artist and pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation, the Winsor McCay Award stands as one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation.

Brad Bird couldn’t be there to accept the award due to his duties directing the next installment of the Mission Impossible series, and sent in his ‘thank you’ speech in the form of this awesome video. Feel free to skip the clip show and get to the good part around 4:30.

Brad Bird could direct traffic and I’d pay $10 to watch.