Ricky Gervais – hosting the Golden Globes and insulting the whole world
Ricky Dene Gervais. He’s 48. He’s a bit podgy. He makes albinos look pretty tanned. And he’s not one to pull his punches.
Ricky hosted the 2010 Golden Globes, and he’s pretty quickly become the talk of the town. Tinseltown that is. Some are praising him, others are vilifying him. And rightly so…after all he did poke fun at some of Hollywood’s biggest names, and by ‘poke fun’ I mean ‘lob insult grenades’. But my question to the seething masses is “what the hell did you expect?” Have you watched The Office or Extras… or even his (much underrated) film Ghost Town? Because if you have you’ll realise that Ricky doesn’t have to struggle much pull off the awkward, insulting character. In fact my best guess is that he’s a rotten actor, and that those characters we love to hate are very much a projection of a big chunk of Ricky’s personality. So when you throw a guy like Ricky into the mix with such easy targets as Mel Gibson and (Sir, apparently) Paul McCartney you’re in for a bit of a feeding frenzy. It’s more or less like inviting a professional seal-clubber to babysit your 3 baby seals.
Anyway, enough with the ranting. I thought I’d include a few quotes from the night for you to enjoy, after all, the guy is a legend. Please note that I do not endorse these comments… I just laugh at them.
- “And I’ve had a penis reduction. Just got the one now. That’s enough. And it is very tiny, but so are my hands, so when I’m holding it, it looks pretty big. And let’s face, I usually am holding it. I wish I was doing that now instead of this, to be honest.”
- “It is an honour to be here in a room full of what I consider to be the most important people on the planet. Actors, they’re just better than ordinary people, aren’t they?”
- “I was on the same plane as Paul McCartney to LA. I was up front in first class and he was back in economy. He’s saving money, you know. That’s because he spent an awful amount of money last year.”
[referring to McCartney’s expensive divorce from Heather Mills] - “Actors aren’t just loved here in Hollywood, they’re loved the world over, because they’re recognisable,” he said. “You can be in the Third World, and you get a glimpse of a Hollywood star, and it makes you feel better. You can be a little child, a little Asian child, with no possessions, no money – but you see a picture of Angelina Jolie and you think, ‘Mummy!’”
- [pointing at his half-full glass of Fosters, from which he sipped throughout the ceremony]
“Look, I love a drink as much as the next man. Unless the next man is… Mel Gibson!”
[enter Mel Gibson to present the next award] - “One thing that can’t be bought is a Golden Globe… Officially.”
- “Rachel from Friends and that bloke from 300,” was how he introduced The Bounty Hunter co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler to the stage. Neither looked very impressed.
