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Ricky Gervais

January 16, 2012 by · Comments Off on Ricky Gervais 

Ricky GervaisRicky Gervais, In the end, it was Kim Kardashian and Eddie Murphy who came in ahead of the favourites Russell Brand and Katie Perry for those betting on who would be picked on at Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles. No, they may not have won any awards, but they were the first celebrities in the firing line of the “controversial” host Ricky Gervais’s “hotly-anticipated” opening monologue.

Despite the absurd fallout from the ribbing last year of Hollywood glitterati – in particular of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie for their box office failure The Tourist – which saw the British comic treated as if he’d just taken a machinegun to the entire Beverly Hilton Hotel ballroom, he was invited back again in a remarkable act of masochism (read: shameless PR ploy to attract attention to awards considered largely meaningless in film industry).”The Golden Globes are to the Oscars like Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton. A bit louder. A bit trashier. A bit drunker. And more easily bought,” was Gervais’s first celebrity swipe, before questioning the importance of the Academy Awards after Eddie Murphy had turned down the hosting job. “When the man who says ‘yes’ to Norbit says ‘no’ to you ”

But this time it seemed as if the disobedient dog had been muzzled, and the organising network NBC’s bark about him being “the host they can’t control” was considerably worse than Gervais’s actual bite on the night. Kardashian and Murphy were easy (and absent) targets, but he appeared too timid actually to go after the A-listers in the room. He barely bothered Madonna, who was in the audience (and won a Best Original Song gong for her appearance). He steered clear of Jolie, whose hair was tied back so tight her nose looked in danger of being pulled up to her forehead. He was positively cooing over George Clooney. Instead, the “meanest” host delivered a somewhat lacklustre performance, littered with the self-congratulatory smugness that has become standard in his more recent television output. “Tonight you get Britain’s biggest comedian, hosting the world’s second biggest awards show on America’s third biggest network. Actually fourth,” was an opening gag that had clearly been OK’d with NBC first.

But hosting disappointments aside, the evening proved a success for one Harvey Weinstein and the black-and-white romance The Artist. The Weinstein Company led the pack of studios with six wins, with Harvey undoubtedly the most thanked person on stage. “The Punisher”, “the Boss” and, even, “God” were the numerous titles bestowed on the veteran executive by award winners eager to please their master.

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