Ricky Gervais hosted the 2011 Golden Globes Awards and opened with a monologue that left most of Hollywood’s elite angry. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were his first targets. He poked fun at the box office bomb that managed to garner several nominations, ‘The Tourist.’ Next he wondered aloud why ‘Sex and the City 2’ was snubbed as the airbrush team for the posters alone deserved a nod as he added, “Girls, we know how old you are. I saw one of you on an episode of ‘Bonanza’!”
What created the most tension in the audience was a punch line that hit a Hollywood vet who did not attend the event. Gervais brought up ‘I Love You Philip Morris.’ The punch line stabbed at Tom Cruise/John Travolta…
“Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay. So the complete opposite of some Scientologists, then.”
Later Ricky attacked Robert Downey Jr. before introducing him as a presenter after listing his film accomplishments and adding, “But many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail.” Obviously it was in poor taste, and Downey snapped back with, “Aside from the fact that it’s been hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones, I’d say the vibe of the show has been pretty good so far, wouldn’t you?”
I still love Ricky and the thing about his style is that he doesn’t answer to the pampered celebs who demand decorum and worshipping at all times. He pushed the boundaries of respectability by attacking the easy targets with hard and sometimes low blows, but that is what you get when tap him for hosting duties. You can’t give him a room full of A-list celebs and a microphone with the expectation that he will bite his tongue. It’s like giving me a bottle of vodka while playing ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ and not expecting my top to come off.
