What did you think of Ricky Gervais as host?
I love Ricky – I think he’s crass, but c’mon lets be honest…he says what everyone is thinking! Gotta give him a little bit of credit! While announcing Robert Downey Jr. was coming to stage, Ricky said “But many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail.”
Later, Downey Jr told reporters: “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?”
The British comic said the crowd should look forward to “a night of partying and heavy drinking — or as Charlie Sheen calls it, breakfast,” and then went on to re-tell the Two and a Half Men actor’s notorious NYC plaza fit.
He then trashed the nomination of The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp despite critical pans.
“Who knows? I haven’t seen it,” Gervais admitted. “There’s this ridiculous rumor going around that the only reason The Tourist was nominated was so that the Hollywood Foreign Press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. That’s rubbish. they also accepted bribes.” Depp was seen in the audience making a sour face.
He also threw in there a joke about Scientology – which I thought was hilarious.
“Also not nominated was ‘I Love You Philip Morris,’ Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Two heterosexual characters pretending to be gay,” he said. “So the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists, then.”
When the crowd started booing, Ricky hedged his words.
“Probably,” he said. “My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke. They’re not here.”
UPDATE: According to Pop Eater, Ricky has already been banned from hosting next year.
Ricky Gervais trashed Angelina Jolie, Charlie Sheen, Hugh Hefner, Mel Gibson, God, Tom Cruise (and the list goes on) last night when he hosted the Golden Globes. But the joke that got him in the most trouble was when he made fun of Philip Berk, the current head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA for short).
“Ricky will not be invited back to host the show next year, for sure,” a member of the HFPA tells Pop Eater, adding that Gervais’ relentlessly mean shtick could have even larger consequences. “For sure any movie he makes he can forget about getting nominated. He humiliated the organization last night and went too far with several celebrities whose representatives have already called to complain.”
To make matters worse, Gervais’ last words in the telecast were, “Thank God for making me an atheist.”
“Ricky blew it big time. It’s one thing to make fun of celebrities but it’s another to make them totally uncomfortable,” an insider tells Pop Eater. “People in that room were furious but had to sit and smile because the camera’s were on them. It really says something when several people who attended said they would have felt safer with Kathy Griffin hosting.”
Filed under Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais, Robert Downey Jr. | 8 Comments »
