No awards show night of glitz and glamor is complete without a a few snarky jokes from the ceremony's host. While a select few think that David Letterman perfected this roast-like approach back in his single appearance hosting the Academy Awards in 1995, epitomized by the famous "Uma … Oprah," conceit, most would agree that Ricky Gervais' performance at Sunday's 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards proved that there's a new sheriff in town when it comes to ripping into the stars. But that doesn't mean he will be given the platform to do it again — it is doubtful that Gervais will ever be invited back.
Fearing that he hadn't gone quite far enough when hosting the 2010 Golden Globes, the comedian announced last week on Ellen that he had no intention of making the same mistake the second time around. "I warned them," he said at one point during his opening monologue, after a particularly raunchy joke. There weren't many tinsel town headliners to escape Gervais' irreverent wit. From Charlie Sheen to the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Gervais did his homework and took no prisoners. Even The Man Upstairs wasn't safe; while everyone else was thanking God for their accomplishments, Gervais praised God for "making me an atheist." Here are some highlights from his remarks, followed by a few celebs who bore the brunt of his acerbic wit:
5) The Entire Opening Monologue: From kicking off the evening with the obvious Charlie Sheen joke and digging into the Sex and the City cast for being too old ("Girls, we know how old you are. I saw one of you in an episode of Bonanza"), to taking a finely-tuned shot at certain Scientologists ("My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke") and dragging in the stars of The Tourist (saying it was "rubbish" that The HFPA only nominated the film so they could hang out with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. "They also accepted bribes."), every other line of this five-minute event was packed with something delightfully scathing.
3) Tom Hanks and Tim Allen: This duo was so embarrassed by Gervais' humor that they jabbed back at him, saying they remembered the good ol' days when their esteemed host was "a slightly chubby but very kind comedian."
2) Robert Downey, Jr. (pictured): Not quite as good-natured as he's been about previous references to his misspent youth, Downey, Jr. got back at Gervais' dredging up the past by calling the vibe of the show "hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones."
1) Philip Burke: Apart from God, the head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was perhaps the most astonished to be the butt of a Gervais joke. In introducing Eva Longoria, who would, in turn, present Burke to say a few words on behalf of the HFPA, Gervais made his most uncouth joke of the night. "Next up, Eva Longoria has the daunting task of introducing the President of the Hollywood Foreign Press. That's nothing! I just had to help him off the toilet and pop his teeth in." Burke followed this with a not-so-veiled threat about what the possible fate of Gervais' next movie might be.
One thing is for sure – more people are talking about Gervais' performance than the night's winners, so if the old Hollywood adage that there's no such thing as bad press holds up, Gervais can consider the evening an enormous success. —KIMBERLY STEELE
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