Oh, Ricky

The big buzz of today comes from the other night's Golden Globe awards, where apparently during the ceremony host Ricky Gervais was pretty pointed in some of his insults. Gervais took the time to point out a few of the stars' bigger flops and implied that some of them only got nominations after they bribed the correct people. Now, I wasn't watching it because award shows are not my thing, but I'm told there was lots of uncomfortable, forced laughter from people who were trying very hard not to look pissed off (and, for a room full of actors, failing miserably) and at one point Gervais was taken off of the telecast. It sounds as if no one was spared from Ricky's opinion and today showbiz people are up in arms that Gervais was so blunt. Ricky has already come out today and said that he doesn't expect to be asked back to host a third time, but that even if he were he wasn't planning on doing it anyway.

I guess my question to the people who organized the show is: what did you think was going to happen? Gervais has a history of not caring what people think and saying what is on his mind, and that is exactly what he did. Hell, he did the same thing last year when he made a joke about Mel Gibson and it turned out to be the only thing people remember from last year's ceremony. (Do you remember who won for Best Actor last year? I certainly don't.) I guess you can make fun of Mel Gibson all you want, but make a couple jokes about Bruce Willis or Johnny Depp and suddenly you're a monster. To me the fault lies not with Gervais, but the producers who made the decision to roll the dice with Gervais a second time when they should have known the buzz from last year's Gibson joke was only going to make him bolder. You can't hire a guy who made his mark by saying outrageous things and then be uptight because he said something outrageous. It really is the equivalent of bringing a wild animal home and then being shocked when it starts ripping up your furniture and isn't house-broken.

I also think the main reason I am taking Gervais's side is that I can't drum up a ton of sympathy for a room full of millionaires who are there to dress up in (free) expensive clothes, get drunk and be told how great they are by receiving awards that don't really mean anything. Gervais wasn't standing there ridiculing people who are trying to cure cancer or global warming. He was making fun of actors, who are probably among the least self-aware people on the planet, and I'm always in favor of people getting a little dose of reality, especially if it has been a while. I think it is healthy every now and again for successful people to be reminded that they could always stand to be a little more humble. Frankly, if this is how he treats people that he considers colleagues and hopes to work with, I want Gervais to be the one hosting the ESPYs next year. I would love to hear his thoughts on LeBron James and 'The Decision.'