“The Hollywood Foreign Press have warned me that if I insult any of you, or any of them, or offend any viewers, or cause any controversy whatsoever, they’ll definitely invite me back next year as well.”
Generally, I am an avid follower of popular culture. I was especially obsessive about last year’s movie award season, as I had seen most of the nominated films and was a devout fan of The Social Network. When I tuned in to the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, then, it was entirely for the purpose of rooting for the film I had enjoyed so much. Ricky Gervais’ hosting gig ended up being a (very) pleasant surprise.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding his performance last year: stories about him being fired in the middle of the show, with celebrity guests polarized between giving praise and criticism. Needless to say, the talk of him being fired by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was a publicity stunt, as Ricky Gervais was invited to host again this year, and most people (I imagine) were excited to tune in.
Actually, it’s pretty much the only reason I tuned in, as I have hardly seen any of the films nominated this year. I generally watch the Globes regardless of what’s nominated, simply for the sake of seeing a bunch of A-list celebrities making use of an open bar, only to later give lively, drunken acceptance speeches. But after Ricky’s monologue last year, which was significantly more “controversial” than his monologue the year before, I expected him to go big or go home – to keep testing the HFPA until they refuse to invite him back again.
So, interestingly, when he made the joke (quoted at the beginning of this post) implying his imperviousness to censorship, and then provided a list of rules he had to follow, I expected him to break every one of them. I waited for the entire show. In the end, though, not only did the HFPA seem to successfully enforce a level of censorship, but they seemed to cut back on his screen time, as well. Of course, Ricky has since tweeted that it was his personal favourite hosting experience at the Golden Globes. Did he get paid more to keep his mouth shut? Will he be invited back next year? I guess we’ll find out.
One highlight of the show – though I didn’t know it at the time – was Homeland‘s win for Best TV Drama. I quickly spent the next two days watching the first 12-episode season, and as I said in my intro post, I am officially hooked. So I guess the Globes were good for something.