Ricky Gervais’ opening monologue at this year’s Golden Globes was a typical blend of hilarious and heinous. Within his first minute, Gervais laid down a genuinely impressive topical joke: “I want to do this monologue and go into hiding, OK? Not even Sean Penn will find me.”
From there, he poked fun at NBC: “It’s right that NBC host this awards show, because they are the only network who were truly fair and impartial and that’s because they’re the only network with zero nominations. So, nothing in it for them tonight.” He tackled the gender pay gap: “All-female remakes are the big thing. There’s a female remake of Ghostbusters; there’s going to be a female remake of Ocean’s Eleven; and this is brilliant for the studios. Because they get guaranteed box office results, and they don’t have to spend too much money on the cast.” On Matt Damon’s status as a comic actor contender: “To be fair,The Martian was a lot funnier than pixels, but then again, so was Schindler’s List.”
In closing, Gervais said: “Listen, if you do win tonight, remember that no one cares about that award as much as you do, OK?” “That award is, no offense, worthless,” he added. Stay tuned for a very Ricky Gervais joke about what he does with his Golden Globe statues in his spare time.
Read more in Slate about the 2016 Oscar season:
