Didn’t watch the Golden Globes on Sunday night because the Golden Globes are a bigger joke than the Academy Awards and I was doing other things, and there wasn’t anything about the Golden Globes on Slog yesterday so I figured they were as unremarkable and what-a-joke as always, but then I got home last night and watched segments on CNN and MSNBC and Fox all about, like, Did Ricky Gervais go too far? So then I called up the opening monologue on the internet and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Couple thoughts:

(1) Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

(2) What happened to Johnny Depp? Why did he give up? Why did he have to become another fatuously dressed, offended-at-being-joked-about celebrity?

(3) List of people who get dissed: Charlie Sheen, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Cher, the women in Sex and the City 2 (“Girls, we know how old you are—I saw one of you in an episode of Bonanza for Chrissakes”), “some famous Scientologists” (the crowd practically revolts at the Travolta-and-Cruise-are-gay joke), Hugh Hefner, and Mel Gibson. Well done, my man! That’s quite a list.

(4) Priceless: Robert DeNiro making a disgusted face at the giving-Hefner-a-handjob joke, and Tiny Fey’s grin. They both look amazed—AMAZED!—that the Golden Globes opening monologue is funny.

Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer...

47 replies on “I Don’t Care What Anyone Says, Ricky Gervais Is My Hero”

  2. Regarding yr point #2 – I think your Depp-O-Meter might need some new batteries. Mr Depp looked bemused, and not at all offended, to me. (And ‘fatuously dressed’?!? Come on! He was the only dude there not trussed about the neck with a damn tie!)

  3. Johnny Depp was not offended. When the camera cuts to him, he’s laughing and then smiling. Christ, Frizzelle, did you actually watch the clip you posted?

  5. @2 word.

    Gervais did a better job drawing attention to the Globes than the HFPA could have imagined, coming through aces on his promise from last year – I’m sure today they’re offering him a contract for next year’s show at double the money. He could hold out for triple and they’d pay him.

  9. Christopher, I completely agree about your assessment of Gervais. He’s brilliant — what a comedy treasure. I was waiting to fly home last night from Boston and CCN was running a recap of the monologue, under that tired rubric of “did he go too far?” The others in the waiting area were laughing out loud with every clip. There’s your answer: No. He went exactly far enough. A remarkable performance.

  11. GG practically takes place in a conference room at the Beverly Hilton.
    My fave part was when Gervais introduced Bruce Willis to the stage as “Ashton Kutcher’s father!”
    Thank you, Ricky.

  15. If anything, I think some celebs are more annoyed when a camera is put in their face to get The Reaction Shot than with the actual material they’re reacting to.

  16. @8 remember that this was a dinner. They did actually have food, so Depp was likely eating some of that.

    I found Jolie to be a lot more obviously humorless than Depp. No one seemed to mention it, possibly because no one expects any humor out of her.

    I actually found Gervais less funny than usual here, though I looooved the Cruise/Travolta crack, and the audience’s pissed reaction made it even better. Yes, he fucking went there people, not everyone is afraid of Xenu like you are.

  17. I’ve been watching old episodes of his British show “Extras” recently. Fucking brilliantly hilarious!

    “Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian… WIZARD! YOU SHALL NOT PASS! CUT!… Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian…”

  23. All I know is that I think the “did host X of award show Y go too far?!” storyline is old and boring. It seems like fake controversy designed solely to attract attention to award show Y.

    Gervais was funny. Really funny at times. But… did he really say anything that these celebrities wouldn’t hear about themselves on Letterman? Hugh Hefner is old, Sex & the City ladies are airbrushed, Charlie Sheen is a crazy drunk, etc… (okay, maybe not the gay Scientologist thing). Is it just that he’s saying them right in front of them, on a night that’s supposed to be about celebrating them?

  26. @Julie: Yeah, I agree that it didn’t seem that hardcore. But I could be biased because it is nearly impossible for me to hear anything as offensive when spoken in that accent. I mean come on people! SO DARN ADORABLE!

  27. On the heels of an interview by Chely Wright that discussed how her record sales were cut in half when she came out, I don’t blame Travolta or Cruise – if they’re even gay – for being closeted.

  28. The 3D joke killed me. Please Hollywood, more of this. You need to be insulted Gervais style until you learn your lesson (and if that’s never, fine with me).

  33. Love this! He didn’t say anything that comedians don’t normally say. He just said those things with the people in the room. In fairness to the actors, it’s probably really awkward having a camera on you while you’re being made fun of. Regardless, funny stuff.

  34. Good god that was fun – thank you, Christopher. Looking at his watch ans saying “it’s not, oh… 1975”! And then closing thanking God for making him an atheist?! This makes my day.

  42. Johnny Depp has had too much botox to accurately gauge his facial expressions.

    I know he’s not as cool as he used to be but I cut him some slack. He was really cool in the 90’s but now he’s a dad -that can bring out a bit of dorkyness in a guy.

  44. I’m pretty stunned that nobody is saying this… okay, Travolta and Cruise were called closeted gays. SO FUCKING WHAT? This is Hollywood for fuck’s sake, the whole business is so damn full of gays, nobody in the biz should be freaking out over being called gay. It’s not like they were accused of stabbing babies.

    If Cruise/Travolta get their panties in a bunch over it, it’s only cause to laugh that much harder.

  45. Robert Downey Jr. made his self-righteous dig at Ricky Gervais, and then he went on to deliver a rambling, self-centered, and demeaning ramble about wanting to have sex with all of the Best Actress nominees.

  46. Meh. What’s everyone so giddy about? This was amusing, funny once or twice, mean-spirited in that lovable Gervais way. You’d think from this piece (and the comments) he’d lit the place on fire or something. Like all awards presentations, it was… what’s the word? …okay.

  47. Being mean to someone’s face is not the same thing as being funny. Ricky Gervais was just mean. Steve Carrell had the best comeback of the night.

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