Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes

[Sneelock]

I hang around here enough to know that a lot of Brits have been hating Ricky Gervais for quite some time now. well, last night the U.S.A. seems to have caught up with you. If you turn on a chatterbox "news" show, you are going to hear people talking about how "out of line" Gervais was in his hosting duties at this awards show last night.

what do you think? I can't get over the "we are not amused" tone of the stars and today the "media"
I mean, he's hosted shows before, they know what he does. why hire him and then act all offended because he had the nerve to insult big box office stars?

sure, he said he was helping an old guy put his teeth back in but that didn't bother me near as much as seeing the old guy complain about it. sure, RG is a bit of a tootache. so what? they hired him and he did his thing. I'll bet he wasn't in much of the later part of the show because of bruised egos. well, hell. those people are paid pretty well. shouldn't they have thicker skin?

[Goat Boy]

Anything that pricks the pomposity and ego of those tossers is alright with me. They're millionaires for crying out loud so lighten THE FUCK UP. At least De Niro seemed to be enjoying it.

[nathan]

No one seems to be mentioning that Robert Downey Jr. went on to introduce the best actress category in a way that suggested he slept with all of them. I think Downey was just fooling around too when he chided Gervais. He's been known to have a great poker face when joking around. Plus, he's good at it. It's a put-on of a put-on.

It was still more tame than those old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts though.

Boy, did Bette Davis get hers! And how!

[Tactful Cactus]

Who cares really, celebrities had their self satisfied night of back slapping ruined by a loud-mouthed Brit. I watched Gervais' opening monologue, it was pretty cutting but he was like Billy Crystal compared to what Frankie Boyle gets up to in the UK.

[sloopjohnc]

I just watched the opening monologue on youtube and I thought it was pretty funny. I think he probably only writes a couple of jokes or hones 'em.

[Beebsy]

I didn't like him mostly because he was completely ubiquitous but I think this monologue is fairly mild and pretty funny.

He wouldn't have said anything he wasn't allowed to say, but it was like a test to those people - can you take it? Or can you at least pretend to be happy to take it?

[The Great DeFector]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12206235

I thought Downey could take a joke, for him to be slightly miffed is something.

[Fireplug]

I thought this was one of his funniest moments, after a few years of drifting away from his comedic best. For people to be offended says more about them than about him, and is a sad commentary on the fragile egos of celebrities and the sycophants that the general public have become.

Gervais is no more than cheeky. He's a mainstream entertainer who flirts with being outrageous. For him to receive opprobrium is depressing.

[Matty Red Sox]

He crossed some lines, but I'm glad he did! I love the Bruce Willis intro!

[dang65]

"Awards" season comes round again. God, they make me puke. Everyone's so bored of them all now that they have to get presenters who go straight for the cutting quips - Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, Ricky Gervais etc... Since things like the Brit awards with Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood, or the Jarvis Cocker/Michael Jackson thing, or Judy's bra showing, or Kanye West "Ima let you finish" and so on, people only watch for the clangers and the mild shock stuff. Frankie Boyle for the Oscars, I say.

[mentalist (slight return)]

If you hire Ricky Gervais you get his schtick, whatdthey expect. The celebs are rich enough to hire therapists to help them get over it. I'm mildly bummed (not in the mouth) that Jackie Weaver din't win.

[James R]

Fuck 'em, I say. It was a Hollywood entertainment awards show. The way people are going on, you'd think the Golden Globes were actually important.

[James R]

Also, the way people go on about the Globes being a hotbed of corruption, you'd think the Oscars were clean or something.

[Rated B]

I haven't seen the bit, or paid much attention but I fucking hate Gervais.

Talentless, braying cunt.

[Rated B]

Was he bent double in hilarious laughter at his own jokes?

[Tactful Cactus]

I wonder could this spell the end of Gervais' forays in Hollywood? Lets face it, his movies have been shit and probably not big money makers either. The end might be nigh for the chubby funster.

[Nikki Gradual]

Guess I must be the only one who reckoned that all the "response" comments (from Downey jnr, Hanks and Allen et al) that are now being furiously quoted as vilification of Gervais were just part of the overall act. Bit weird otherwise why he mainly slagged off the people presenting the awards (who must have known the script and probably even rehearsed it) and they were the ones having these supposedly angry reactions. Sure, the whole thing probably backfired with the viewing public and reviewers, but I am far from convinced that Downey Jnr, Hanks and Allen were having spontaneous outbursts against Gervais when it seemed scripted and that they were part of the overall "joke", responding like for like in the tenet that Gervais had established/written. Also, however, edgy and maverick he likes to think he is, there is no way he would have done that without them knowing because they are all much more famous and powerful than him and he knows which side his bread is buttered. I can just imagine him pitching the "Hey, why don't we do this whacky, rude approach and make it look like you hate me" pitch to them.
Yes, there probably were some unwilling victims, but none of it was that outrageous or news anyway. There were some decent lines, and it is always nice to see Hollywood pomposity pricked, but then that point is kind of redundant if a bunch of Hollywood was in on the joke as it seemed (to me, at least). Storm in teacup, but it's still probably scuppered Gervais stateside. Shame.

[Tactful Cactus]

I think if it was rehearsed they would have come up with something wittier than "I remember when Ricky Gervais was nice..." or words to that effect.

[Bungo the Mungo]

I don't believe for a minute that anyone was especially shocked. They knew what they were getting.

I wasn't offended by his jokes, but his telling of them is smug and laboured. And that voice! I'd forgotten. It's a very very ugly thing. All those glottal stops, that high-pitched Home Counties whine. Dreadful.

Anyway it was weak tea. Joan Rivers has been doing this kind of thing for forty years - and about ten times funnier.

[dang65]

Guess I must be the only one who reckoned that all the "response" comments (from Downey jnr, Hanks and Allen et al) that are now being furiously quoted as vilification of Gervais were just part of the overall act.

I've heard that being said and I have to admit that it's one variant of humour that I totally don't get at all, even though it's kind of popular at the moment, it seems. i.e. The celebrity being exposed as a pompous twit, but actually they're just pretending and that's really cool. It was pretty much the entire premise of Extras - which was admittedly quite funny - but in real life it's too, uh, subtle for me.

A good example was the awards show (think it was MTV awards?) a little while ago where Brüno was on wires and landed on Eminem, sticking his arse in his face as he did so, and Eminem then stormed out in disgust and outrage... only for it to be revealed that Eminem was completely in on the joke and it was all planned. Which deflated any slight humour in the situation, but still left Eminem looking really silly, I would say. But it's probably just me not getting it. Or celebrities setting things up so that they can always say they were just going along with the joke whenever something embarrassing really does happen. I dunno.