Ricky Gervais and The Golden Globes- UPDATE #57

[jimithing]

Ricky Gervais hosted The Golden Globes this year. He is very well known for his biting, irreverent humor, and I am usually a big fan. I always thinks he's hilarious at the award shows he presents at.

As a host, he really went after a lot of celebrities, and it's been reported that many celebrities are very upset and displeased by his comments and thought he went below the belt.

Here's a quick article I found: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1656126/ricky-gervais-defends-golden-globes-performance.jhtml

The president of the Hollywood Foreign Press released this statement:

"He definitely crossed the line. And some of the things were totally unacceptable. But that's Ricky. Any of the references to individuals is certainly not something the Hollywood Foreign Press condones."

I watched it, and I have to say, I thought much of what he said was rather cringe worthy and uncomfortable, especially given that the celebrities were right there. There were some lines that I did think were quite funny.

I really like Kathy Griffin, and she tends to skewer celebrities in a similar manner, but they aren't sitting captive in her audience. I think that's what crossed the line for me. This wasn't a planned roast.

Do you think he crossed the line? This was supposed to be a time to honor the celebrities, and many of them felt mocked and targeted.

[hyzenthlay]

It's one thing to skewer commedians. Tim Allen, I am sure can take it and has dished it out.

But you have to be careful once you extend roast style humor beyond that. Angelina Jolie has not, to my knowledge, ever displayed a significant sense of humor. Not to say she doesn't have one, but it's not part of her public persona.

Cher, Sheen, Willis those could be ok depending on the joke. Mel Gibson I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole these days.

I think he obviously confused his job as presenter with his job as a commedian. The roles are related, but certainly not identical.

[Bibliophile]

A couple of his jokes were pretty darn funny & had DH & I rolling.  A few other were a bit cringe worthy & not so funny.  I think that they're making it out to be a bigger deal than it actually was though just because they want publicity.

[Animala]

I think he did exactly what he is known for.  I thought about half of it was funny and the rest was just embarrassing, but that is how I view his humor in general.  If the organizers didn't want that kind of biting humor then they should have hired someone else.

[wyozozo]

I like his humor, but this time I think some of his comments went over the line.

[SamInTheShadows]

I saw the first 5 minutes or so and didn't find it very funny, but then: I'm not a fan. I don't like his delivery and his jokes are (IMO) of the kind that annoying drunk dude from the pub around the corner would come up with.

Did he cross a line? For the occasion, maybe yes. I'm not familiar enough with the normal style of this show. There's not a lot of humour I find offensive, though. Just... not funny. I don't like whatshisname with the terrorist puppet either.

So: meh. :/

[Bibliophile]

DH & I were rolling when he did the Hugh Hefner joke...  Then when they panned onto Robert DiNiro laughing - we started laughing even harder...

[penelope2017]

Weird, someone else posted this topic and it seemed to vanish- just a warning.

I think he was over the top but I do think that was part of why they hired him. I couldn't have cared less about the movies or awards this year but I tuned to it a few times just to see what he would say. I'm sure that was part of the reason. It's easy to distance themselves after ward.

Just my theory.

[jimithing]

Weird, someone else posted this topic and it seemed to vanish- just a warning.

Oh, I didn't see it! I guess we'll see.

[rose red]

There were a few jokes that I thought was really funny.  I get the feeling there are a few celebrities that the entire showbiz and it's associated community is afraid of for some reason, and nothing negative is ever said about them.  To do so is at your own risk.  Whenever someone has the brass ones to joke about them, I love it.

[Shoo]

I don't like the idea of an awards show as a roast, personally.  I don't actually find any of those comedians funny in the slightest.

[Outdoor Girl]

I read a comment Gervais had made along the lines of:  If they've invited me back, I didn't do my job properly the first time!

So, to me, it sounded like he was setting out to be offensive.

[Nellop]

When they asked him to host they knew what his style was.
IMHO if you pay Ricky Gervais, who is known for his sometimes offensive style and then you will get Ricky Gervais making the kind of jokes he always makes, there is no room for the organisers to then complain.
You don't ask for vanilla icecream then complain when you get vanilla icrecream...

[faithlessone]

When they asked him to host they knew what his style was.
IMHO if you pay Ricky Gervais, who is known for his sometimes offensive style and then you will get Ricky Gervais making the kind of jokes he always makes, there is no room for the organisers to then complain.
You don't ask for vanilla icecream then complain when you get vanilla icrecream...

POD to this. He's a pretty specific type of comedian. It's what he does all the time. If the GG people wanted someone who was middle-of-the-road, nice, non-offensive funny, they shouldn't have asked him to do it.

[PeterM]

I didn't watch, but I can usually see both sides of this kind of issue. I love nasty insult humor myself, but mine is far from a universal taste so you have to be careful.

This part, however...

"Ricky will not be invited back to host the show next year, for sure," said the HFPA member about the possibility of a Gervais three-peat as Golden Globes emcee. "For sure any movie he makes he can forget about getting nominated.

makes me lose any shred of respect I may have ever had for the Golden Globes. Don't invite the guy back to host, for sure, but a representative of the organizers saying they'll let this affect their voting choices? I seriously can't believe this idiot said that to a reporter.