Last night was the Golden Globes, hosted by Ricky Gervais, the most self-satisfied insult comic on Earth. As promised, he made fun of celebrities, the awards themselves, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Thanks to the overhyping of his "danger" by both NBC and Gervais himself, I don't think there was any way that he could live up to the expectations. That's his monologue up there, which contains the lion's share of his material for the night. Unlike the Oscars, the host really just does the monologue and comes back a couple times throughout the ceremony at the Globes.
As for the awards themselves, the show continued it's pattern [...]
"I think Ricky Gervais is funny. I’m not actually nominated [for a performance], so maybe I won’t get insulted horribly. But if he chooses to do it, then I’m game for that," says Seth Rogen. Sounds like a challenge to me. Do your worst, Gervais.
Ricky Gervais hasn't "officially" been offered the Golden Globes hosting job yet, but boy does he want it! He said that hosting again would be "very tempting," and that he and NBC are both convinced. Now they just have to persuade those fuddy-duddies over at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. I'm feeling an unlikely-pairing buddy comedy coming along. Uh-oh, here it comes: When a stuffy Hollywood Foreign Press Association member is forced to work with the straight-shooting, controversial comedian hosting his event, what will he learn about laughter, love…and himself? This holiday season, Ricky Gervais is…The Host.
Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes 10 months ago. He made some jokes that pissed some people off, and it was a bit of a thing for a few weeks. It isn't really a thing anymore, but don't tell Ricky Gervais that! He just wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal about it for some reason. He's just still thinking about it, I guess. The whole thing a lesson in why taking the high road generally involves keeping your mouth shut, as it's tough to keep on the high road when you say things like "I host the Golden Globes, like some businessmen play golf. For [...]
This lengthy article on Ricky Gervais gets into his attitude towards the controversy he often stirs up, and it also makes the very good point that it's sometimes hard to square Gervais the public figure and Gervais the TV writer:
Gervais’s stand-up act can be difficult to reconcile with his TV work. Attired in a black T-shirt, jeans or black pants and a headset microphone that recalls the aggressive seduction expert played by Tom Cruise in Magnolia, Gervais may variously riff on the first doctor who had to tell a patient he had AIDS, or the differences between Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man and a real-life autistic [...]
Nominations for the Gilded Globules are out! All comedy-relevant nominations are listed below. It looks like Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig don't have too much competition for Best Actress in a Comedy Movie and TV Series, respectively, and Modern Family will likely take home the Globe for Best Comedy TV Series. Interestingly, though, New Girl got a lot of attention, with nominations for the series and for Zooey Deschanel. She's just too darn charming not to nominate, I guess.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is holding summit after emergency summit but still can't decide whether or not to let Ricky Gervais host the Golden Globes. We've managed to uncover the minutes from their last meeting:
PROS: - Can finally show those dicks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences how cool the Hollywood Foreign Press Association can be - Higher ratings or whatever - Can serve cheaper food since everyone will be too busy hoping they don't get insulted to eat - NBC will stop leaving us angry voicemails
CONS: - What if he makes fun of people for 3 hours and forget to hand [...]
Apparently Ricky Gervais has been spotted at dinner boozing up/being boozed by important humans from NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and it's stirred up the rumors that he'll be hosting the Golden Globes again this year. You know, 'cause last year was such an awesome success that didn't offend anyone. Anyway, NBC's ratings were pretty good for the insult-fest last year, so maybe they'll have him back. Start drawing up the plans for your elaborately constructed Kardashian-joke tally boards now.
Seeing as how everyone lost their mind over a few harmless Robert Downey Jr. jokes during his hosting gig this year, Ricky Gervais' Golden Globes live-blog idea should have the Hollywood sign consumed in spontaneous flame within the hour. "I've had one of my big ideas," he wrote on his site yesterday. "What do you think of this? A live 3 hour podcast during The Golden Globes. Me and a few chums (like Louis CK, Chris Rock, Karl Pilkington, John Stewart, Larry David popping in and out) doing our own alternative commentary." I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that most people [...]
Ricky Gervais has thought about it, and decided that he "got it a bit wrong" last time he hosted the Golden Globes. Yeah, okay. I mean, he was pretty insulting to a lot of people, and it's impressive that he's – oh, what? He's not done with that quote?
"I tried too hard with the schtick, the comedy, and I should have just gone out there and done zingers, I think, because the attention span of someone at an award show, particularly the Golden Globe, is about a second." Ah, okay. So we're going in the "less comedy, more insults" direction. Hoo boy.
Ricky Gervais announced on his blog that this year will be his last time hosting the Golden Globes. But he's promising a legendary show to make up for it: "I don't think anyone had any right to be offended [last year] but they were. This year I'm going to make sure their offence is completely justified."
To me at least, it can feel a little self-important when Ricky Gervais makes one of his descents from the mountain of wisdom and explains what comedy is to the rest of us proles. But his latest essay, on the difference between American and British humor, makes some good points about the role of a comedian:
…I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. That way you’ll never have to apologize. I hate it when a comedian says, “Sorry for what I said.” You shouldn’t say it if you didn’t mean it and you should never regret anything [...]
If Johnny Depp and Ricky Gervais were to meet and try to out-passive-aggressive each other, would you enjoy that? Would you maybe, say, revel in it with the giddiness of twenty schoolchildren out on a long weekend? Now is the time to find out! It was foretold, and it is here, Johnny Depp's appearance on Life's Too Short, which premieres November 10.
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