Did you watch Ricky Gervais host the Golden Globes? I love award shows. I absolutely believe in the gilded, glittery, glorification of actors and filmmakers who bring entertainment to millions of people through their craft. For those who complain about awards shows, what’s the difference between giving MVP awards to athletes and an Oscar to an actor? Nothing.
The Golden Globes, The Emmys, and The Academy Awards are my Super Bowl. That’s why I get a variety of flavored popcorn, and a glass of wine, and settle in to watch my favorite and not-so-favorite celebs walk the red carpet and accept their accolades. I like the red carpet arrivals. I listen to the speeches. I give hilarious commentary. I laugh at the jokes. But at last night’s Golden Globes with host Ricky Gervais, the jokes were a little lacking. Instead of funny, it seemed…mean.
I love Ricky Gervais and his acerbic, relentless wit. I really didn’t have a problem with his jokes as much as the repeated sideways comments exclaiming “who cares” about these awards. While somewhat funny, it felt like the lackluster intro and non-existent excitement set the tone for the show. And rubbed off on several attendees and presenters. For the rest of the night it seemed like the cool thing to do was not to care about the awards. The Jonah Hill/Channing Tatum bit was bombing badly, but instead of using their comedic skills (ahem) to save it, they just dug a deeper hole. Hill started swearing and acted like it was all no big deal. Trust me. I think swearing is awesome. But it will not save a bad bear bit if you mix it with entitlement.
From there it almost felt like everyone who came out to present, or was given longer than 30 seconds to talk, felt the need to act like they didn’t want to be there. Jaime Alexander (who?) saying, “Dude, who types this shit?” because there was a teleprompter problem showed she had no respect for the honor she was given. She is a professional actress and that’s all she could think of to say in that moment? Man, I sound like an old lady right now! Noted.
There were several more examples of all the swearing and meaness (Gervais vs. Gibson round 2). In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Globes that was so negative and blasé. I started wondering why things felt so off. Do the presenters, nominees and winners still want to be recognized in this way? Are award shows still relevant? Or were we all just uncomfortable with the Gervais jokes from the start of the evening? Seeing as how I was just watching it on TV and not actually there it’s hard to gauge the mood of the room. But I know for me, there were definitely a few cringe-worthy moments. Those didn’t bother me as much as the feeling some presenters gave that they had somewhere better to be. Like it was all one big, unfunny joke. I blame the Kardashians. I don’t know how, but somehow it’s their fault.
