Does anyone else feel that this blog is essentially a
commentary on awards ceremonies for this past year? Good. Let’s get the premise
out of the way. The Golden Globes are frequently described as the Emmy’s and
Oscar’s trashier, drunker cousin. Those nominees that haven’t won one do
consider them important, but my understanding is that the rest of Hollywood
regards them as a bit of a joke. Granted, they tend to be good predictors of
what will happen at the Oscar’s, but also not good enough; I would say a little
over chance. I think that is why NBC has more than once chosen Ricky Gervais to
be their host. No musical introduction requiring a large budget, just a
plain-old, funny monologue. A bit shocking too, maybe.
First time round, it was genius! It was a room full of
Hollywood celebrities were getting ripped apart by a British comedian they had
never heard of before. I think back in 2010 people still thought Steve Carell
came up with the Office. Next time round: surprisingly good, still. Third time
hosting: very entertaining. In 2016, right before the #MeToo movement, I
personally laughed the most. I am not necessarily saying that was the best one
yet, but that is when I was most up to date with current events. Plus a dig at
the Kardashians makes my day any day. This was his fifth and final time hosting
and while his performance was somewhat less impressive than other times, it
still got me furiously searching through YouTube for Golden Globes clips first
thing in the morning. Yet, the contemporary equivalent of a loud, conspiracy theorist
you would find at a dodgy corner, Twitter, and a number of journalists have
taken great offence at Ricky Gervais’, dare I say, tame jokes. He has been
called right-wing in a very apolitical monologue. Unless I am missing
something. It is likely I am missing something.
Let me start by saying why I do not think his monologue this
year levels with the previous ones. It is the inevitable fact that he is no
longer an unknown. I think the underlying joke that elevated those first monologues
is that the hottest names in Hollywood were sitting there, unaware and this
seemingly chubby nobody was tearing them a new one. It was absurd! Then, as he
got progressively more famous in the US, the crowd interacted nicely, we got
some fun banter with Steve Carell, an admittedly good comeback from Mel Gibson,
one of Gervais’ most brutally attacked celebrities, and just a more relaxed
Hollywood crowd, ready to laugh at themselves. As they should; half of them
come to these events dressed like peacocks. This year, Gervais was one of them.
Some of his shots seemed self-contradictory. For example, going after Amazon as
a big, bad corporation while working with Netflix himself? Telling others to
refrain from political statements just after his own comment on aforementioned
big, bad corporations? Telling them they are out of touch when he is possibly
richer than most of them? Saying he doesn’t care when his latest stand-up
special is a collection of his self-selected best Twitter comebacks? Those just
took away from the authenticity an earlier Ricky Gervais would have brought to
the jokes. Other than that, I do not get the fuss.
I labelled this year’s jokes as tame. I suspect it might be
a case of what Gervais calls: ‘People
confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke’. For example,
take that Judi Dench, ass-licking joke. The whole reason that was funny is
because she is Judi Dench. Because she is a dame. Because you look at her and the
word ‘ass’ evades you. It is an absurd, unexpected association. My brain finds
those very amusing and instructs my mouth to produce a much less amusing sound
in response. Next, the joke about Greta Thunberg spending few hours at school.
No one is denying climate change, no one is even demeaning Greta Thunberg. This
is just some parameter our mind would not have considered; she has probably
missed tons of hours at school. To me, that just felt like another absurd,
unexpected association. Happy brain, once more.
Let’s move along to him calling James Corden a ‘fat pussy’. Some
called this a poor joke at Corden’s expense; poor because it is an obvious,
juvenile wordplay as far as ‘pussy’ is concerned (my repressed self is twitching
every time I type the word ‘pussy’), and at Corden’s expense because he was
body-shamed. I will not have it. First of all, we are all 14-year old boys at
heart and wordplay is a loveable form of comedy. Secondly, his role in CATS is ‘fat’.
That is it. That is why he was cast and that is his character’s arc; I am not exaggerating,
his name is Bustopher Jones (sidenote: CATS looks like an awful, awful movie).
I am therefore very confused as to why Gervais is out of line to bring that up.
It is as if people are out of line telling Skaasgard that he looked like a
clown in ‘IT’. If anyone body-shamed Corden, it was CATS! I get why they would
not want to add ‘body-shaming’ to their list of problems they have to deal with.
But correct me if I am wrong, the same journalists were calling out Amy Schumer’s
‘I Feel Pretty’ movie, where a slightly chubbier woman hit her head and decided
she was beautiful while we were told she wasn’t because she wasn’t skinny. If
that is insulting and body-shaming, why is Bustopher any different? I mean
other than the whiskers.
Some people took offence at his joke about Leonardo DiCaprio
dating very young girls. Not LDC himself, as Brad and I call him, because he
seemed to be laughing at the joke. Is Gervais really the sleezy one here? The
joke followed with a Prince Andrew reference, which I understand some people may
have considered as equating borderline creepy with illegal behaviour. Far-fetched,
yes, but again possibly the most common premise for a joke. Like ‘taking your
shoes off in planes should be illegal’. No one really thinks it is worth time
in prison. I think. I hope. I mean on long flights, it happens. People in the
US need to start watching Frankie Boyle and calm down. Lastly, the joke about
the lack of female directors nominated received a lot of backlash which I do
not even understand. I thought he essentially called out the lack of female
nominees. If Awkwafina said the same joke about ‘better yet not let women
direct altogether’ she would be getting a standing ovation for stretching out
how ridiculous the lack of female nominees was.
I came to this monologue predisposed with love for Gervais
but I honestly think some people went in predisposed that Gervais would bring
in a politically incorrect speech and that is all. I don’t think he went after
anyone other than Epstein, Weinstein and celebrities that shouldn’t and didn’t,
for the most part, take themselves too seriously. I didn’t feel he mocked any
group of people, opinions or movements, complained about being ‘censored in
this hyper-sensitive world’ like other white, male or white-male comedians. I
will admit I am a bit weary because it seems he got a new wind of right-wing
following on Twitter, which either proves me naive, or shows that the self-proclaimed
right-wing Twitter is an idiotic crowd with no understanding of political
stands altogether. One does not exclude the other, of course. I am generally
quite naïve.
Also, to end on a more pleasant note, Ramy Youssef won ‘Best
Actor in a comedy series’! Irrefutable evidence that someone has been reading
my blog.
Link to the monologue:
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