Our long national nightmare is nearly over...
Meet your new Catwoman

Gervais goes out swinging at the Golden Globes

It just figures.

One of the perks of being my own boss here at the new and allegedly improved CultureGeek is that I don't have to watch awards shows anymore unless y'all really want those endless play-by-play recaps. I therefore ignored the Golden Globes with glee and made cookies with my son instead.

Of course, it would be the thing y'all are talking about today. Ricky Gervais apparently skewered all of Hollywood and awards in general. Shocking to all of us, they don't have a sense of humor.

As a friend put it so excellently, "Awww, did the Hollywood elite get their widdle feelings hurt last night? I got an idea, fuckers. Live in the real world where we struggle to pay the bills, then cry about it." There is a certain you-have-to-be-kidding about someone in a dress that cost more than my car complaining about the unfairness of it all.

Granted, Gervais skewered everyone pretty well, and maybe it was a bit far to call Bruce Willis "Ashton Kutchner's dad." But admit it, you laughed. And when he said the Golden Globe for special effects should go to the guys who airbrushed the Sex and the City 2 poster, the camera caught Chris Noth grinning and nodding.

Come on, you guys hired Gervais. If you can't laugh at yourself, then maybe you shouldn't pick up a porn star, pay her to have dinner with you, get drunk and naked and trash your hotel room, Charlie Sheen?

The misbehavior of famous people has been a staple for awards-show comedy for years. I recall when Whoopi Goldberg wrapped a loincloth around Oscar's waist and said, "John Ashcroft told me to do it." Seriously, Hollywood? You have less of a sense of humor than John Ashcroft?

Apparently so, since some anonymous mouthpiece at the Hollywood Foreign Press said, "Ricky will not be invited back to host the show next year, for sure. For sure any movie he makes, he can forget about getting nominated." Gawd, you want some cheese with that whine? Way to downgrade the quality of your own award – excuse me, sir, are you admitting that the awards are nothing more than a popularity contest? Because I figured that out years ago.

Buried under Gervais' extended middle finger were the actual winners. The Social Network swept best director, best screenplay and best score as well as best picture, which might be Oscar portents - and I was really expecting Inception to start its roll this way. Toy Story 3 beat out Despicable Me and Tangled, proving that Pixar has pictures of the voters playing golf with Satan. Natalie Portman won for Black Swan and The King's Speech picked up a few, following the buzz.

In TV, of course The Walking Dead lost to Boardwalk Empire. At least it didn't go to Mad Men again. Get the full list here.

But stunning to me was Katey Sagal's win (finally!) for Sons of Anarchy after three years of being utterly ignored. What did I say? As soon as I stop watching, the best show on television gets its due. Sort of - it really should have been best drama. Sagal has burned up the screen for three years with the kind of work that should have earned her a line of gold statues on her mantel. Congratulations to a job well done, madam.

And to Ricky Gervais, a tip of the hat. Perhaps he went too far, or perhaps not. But kudos for avoiding the single greatest sin of any entertainer: to be boring.

Comments

Ariedana

If the HFPA and other folks in Hollywood were really that clueless about what Gervais had in store for them, they clearly have no idea about Gervais' non-sitcom career. Hate to promote my own writing, but here's a review of his standup show in Chicago. For chrissakes, he made fun of celebrity charity events in the UK while he was appearing on one. Gervais was predictably funny, and even tame, to a lot of us. I think that any upset has been caused by Hollywood types apparently having no idea what people outside of LA really think about them.

Ariedana

It took my link out, so if anyone actually wants to read the review, Google "Talking Telly Anglotopia Gervais Chicago" and that should bring it right up.

CultureGeek

Dana: Sorry about the anti-leak police, I have no idea how to change that. Sincerely, The Tech-Challenged Management.

Sprite2675

Gervais was pretty upfront about the fact that he was aiming not to be invited back- he has made comments to the media that if they invited him to host a second time, he must not have gone far enough. Hence the jokes about how crooked the HFPA are, and about the president of same. Bruce Willis and Steve Carell, to their credit, seemed amused. RDJr lost points with me for being such a sourpuss about the whole thing.

I quite enjoyed the show, and most especially Chris Colfer's win.

(By the way, I know you're not watching Mad Men right now, but if/when you find the time, it is SO good. Really. And even if you have zero desire to watch, start following Jon Hamm in the press. He is super down to earth, and funny, and gives great quotes. In short, he may be even cooler than Nathan Fillion, and that's saying something).

The comments to this entry are closed.