- Referring to I Love You Philip Morris as “Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay. Sort of the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists then. Probably? My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke. They’re not here.”
- “I love this next presenter; he’s so cool. He’s the star of Iron Man, Two Girls And A Guy, Wonder Boys …I’m sorry are these porn films? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? Bowfinger? Up The Academy? Come on! He has done all of those films, but many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as The Betty Ford Clinic and the Los Angeles County Jail. Robert Downey, Jr.”
- His final line of the night: “And thank you to God. For making me an atheist.”
I mean, it's Ricky Gervais. This is what he does. No one should have been surprised that this was the route his comedy went, any differently than had they invited Jeffrey Ross. Was it funny? Yes. And it's an entertainment show in the first place -- this wasn't nearly on the bite-the-hand-that-invited-him level of Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, though, again (a) what did they expect?, and (b) at least it was funny. Would they rather have had a yodeling ventriloquist Miss America aspirant host?
I know there are different sources with other preferences, but http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong<span> </span>that I watched the yodeling video twice during halftime of the Bears win yesterday? And how excited are we all for a Packers-Bears NFC championship bout this weekend?<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteAs a Falcons fan who was at the Green Bay-Atlanta game Saturday, not all that excited.
ReplyDeleteI thought Gervais was great, but you have to wonder if that atheist line at the end represented the parting shot of a guy who knew he wasn't going to get invited back.
ReplyDeleteI was debating whether to put up a separate football post, and maybe someone else will. I can't remember a season with as many entertaining games as this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty psyched (lifelong Packers fan). When I saw the Bears score in the third quarter, I debated trying to spend the big cash to get tickets for next week, but then I stood outside for five minutes and realized I would never make it through three hours. A Packers-Bears NFC championship is a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to be contrarian here, but rather expressing genuine uncertainty. What about these lines crossed into verboten territory? They all seem to be pretty well-worn territory (the first two in their specifics, and the last one in the general "Godless showbiz types" sense). Likewise, some of the lines about particular actors were cutting, but still well shy of what we'd see in a roast.
ReplyDeleteSo, my very genuine question: Is it just that in these kinds of shows you're not supposed to air the dirty laundry that gets aired elsewhere? Or am I missing something about how specific or nasty these were?
Like Colbert, they weren't received that well in the room. There were also cracks about no one having seen The Tourist (which was nominated), the incapacity of the HFPA chief ... it was relentless.
ReplyDeleteI thought he was hilarious and was actually a little disappointed that he seemed to get tamer as the night went on (last line notwithstanding).
ReplyDeleteMy viewing party was wondering if the presenters scripted their own bits. Because some were incredibly funnier (see Robert Downey Jr.) than others (see most others).
Should be a damn entertaining game, Stevie; good luck to your guys, but I'll be rooting for the Bears to win by 1. (Seriously, Jay Cutler is only the 2nd QB to have 2 rushing and 2 passing TDs in a playoff game, after Otto Graham? Weird.)
ReplyDeleteI think that might just come down to RDJ being a lot funnier on his feet and able to improv some lines, and other presenters being boring wooden creatures without lines handed to them.
ReplyDeleteMeh. I didn't see the HFPA chief joke, and don't know who it was, so maybe that's an exception, but as for the celebs: They earn a lot of money and choose to be in the public eye (to varying degrees, of course), and if they can't take a little ribbing over their personae, I say that's their problem, not Gervais's.
ReplyDeleteYeah, same to you, Joseph. It should be a great game, and everyone is going to be somewhat emotionally involved. And, I think, there's a fundamental respect in this rivalry, which makes it a little more fun than, say, Patriots-Jets, where everyone just hates each other.
ReplyDelete<span>
ReplyDelete<p><span>He announced that Eva Longoria would be on next with 'the daunting task' of introducing Philip Berk, the association's president.</span>
</p><p>
</p><p><span>'That's nothing,' Gervais added. 'I just had to help him off the toilet and pop his teeth in.'</span>
</p></span>
NSFW story: Long ago, in the heyday of Paris Hilton (such as it was), Gervais ran into her backstage at an awards show. As Gervais tells the story, Hilton approached him to say that she was a fan of The Office. "Thanks, who are you?" he asked. "Paris Hilton," she responded. "Oh," he said, "I didn't recognize you without a cock in your mouth."
ReplyDeleteme
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it's RIGHT before the serial comma rule. Come on.
ReplyDeleteThat one actually I found kind of the least offensive. I mean, yes the HFPA pres is probably closer to my grandparents age than mine but that joke was just plain absurd. He seemed as spry as my own grandfather who if you made that crack about him would laugh because it is obviously not true.
ReplyDeleteThe other jokes cited here and some others were meaner because they were based in a harsh truth or spoke to rumors in a way that one didn't.
And I am with Russ. If you didn't want to get picked on, nobody was "forcing" them to attend. And the HFPA of all orgs can't claim not to have known what they were getting into when they hired him.
So, no I don't feel sorry for any of these people. Well, if they are really taking it seriously I feel sorry for them not having a very thick skin, perhaps not having a sense of humor, or not understanding the kind of comedy RG does.
He was on NPR yesterday with the lady who does the games, and he was side-splittingly funny. I love that guy.
ReplyDeletePhew. That almost changed my sense of spacewoman completely.
ReplyDeleteAre Ricky Gervais plural?
ReplyDeleteThe first joke is incredibly borderline. I think it's defensible if it's making fun of people for being closeted, but not if it comes off as making fun of people for being gay. How much of a difference is there? The last line seems a bit out of place at an awards show, but not as a closing line in stand-up. Context is all. The RDJ joke is hilarious, but only because he's doing well these days, career and sobriety wise.
ReplyDeleteOr is he really that old?
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. Despite loving RDJ as an entertainer, I thought jokes about him were funny even when he was all f'd up. Maybe I'm just cruel. Interesting side note, doesn't Gervais's recent standup end with a whole lecture on how no jokes are ever out of bounds...
ReplyDelete...Gervais'...
ReplyDeleteLike Jesus'.
ReplyDeleteBenner, does it make you feel better if he's making fun of the old saw of Tom Cruise being closeted? Because I can't imagine that joke was meant to hit any other target. Of course, I'm generally unbothered by people making fun of Tom Cruise, but YMMV.
ReplyDeleteAgree. If anything, it's sort of a stale reference.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Russ. He was the highlight of the evening (other than Tilda Swinton, who made me hysterical). Perhaps I'm just familiar with his style (though everyone in that room should have been, too), but I didn't find anything shocking in the least.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with these awards shows is that the networks think that they're for the audience and the attendees think that they're for the industry. So the attendees (and honorees) don't care about entertainment -- they want to be respected, and they think that anything that belittles them (Chris Rock's Jude Law joke; ribbing about the Tourist) in the least is in poor taste. But the networks want entertainment. The only reason it's uncomfortable is that the host is making fun of people who think they have a right, at least on the night of the awards, not to be mocked. My own feeling is that if they want to have a dignified awards ceremony without being mocked, they should rent out the VFW and throw it for themselves. As long as TV is paying for the show, TV gets to put on the show it wants.
ReplyDeleteI think it was aimed at both Cruise and Travolta, and I don't think it was aimed at making fun of people for being gay. It was making fun of them for being closeted. Reasonable minds can differ about whether the latter is appropriate, but the two are not the same thing.
ReplyDeleteDan Savage has made the point that staying closeted disenfranchises those who would wish to live out in the open with integrity and honesty. As long as there exists a closet it will help the less accepting parts of our society push people into it.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with him.
I wondered how many of these comments were going to be about punctuation.
ReplyDeleteThe insolence and bold effrontery!
ReplyDeleteI'm on the other side of this argument. It wasn't a roast. It was an awards show. Meant to celebrate the people in the room. Who yes, make a lot of money, but for the most part probably would be just as happy being somewhere else....but that's really beside the point. I didn't think he was funny.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I think that - beyond very formal university graduations - all formal/awards ceremonies I've ever been too have included a healthy dose of ribbing.
ReplyDeleteEven though it's a pretty stale reference, I think it's definitely fair game - not just because of Dan Savage's argument, but also because they are closeted members of Scientology, which seems to have a policy of discrimination against gays (See Paul Haggis' open letter about their support of Prop 8, among other things).
ReplyDeleteBut those are separate questions - 1) was it appropriate for the setting? and 2) was it funny? I didn't think it inappropriate for the setting (certainly no less appropriate than RDJ's extended riff on making each of the esteemed actress nominees better at their jobs by having sex with them), and it was, to me, at least sporadically funny, which is better than most awards shows. (If you want not funny, then I give you Bobby De Niro, who was emphatically NOT FUNNY.)
ReplyDeleteAnd wouldn't graduations be a hell of a lot more fun if there were an emcee making fun of people?
ReplyDeleteAdam, I think you can rule out Isaac on principle.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I saw, I don't think he did anything out of line, and if I have any understanding of his philosophy, he certainly won't care.
ReplyDeleteI agree in principle but disagree in this instance. If Tom Cruise openly joins the gays, I may have to defect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Linda - I just didn't find him funny. (And I usually do - I was looking forward to him hosting this year.) He just seemed mean rather than witty or incisive. Maybe I'm oversensitive, but I just didn't laugh much.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the "mean" side. Here's the thing - the HFPA DOES nominate certain stars (like Angelina Jolie for THE TOURIST, one of the worst movies I saw this year) so they'll show up, look gorgeous on the red carpet, and get a few photo ops with the HFAA folks. Said stars aren't going to keep showing up if they end up only there to be mocked. I usually love Gervais, but he crossed the line from gentle ribbing to uncomfortably mean here. As Linda said above, it's not a roast, people don't show up expecting to be ripped apart (and I actually thought the joke about the HFPA prez was especially mean, considering he's not really a celebrity/person in the public eye).
ReplyDelete*HFPA, not HFAA, clearly not yet awake despite it being almost lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteAnd all this said, they should've known what they were getting into hiring him in the first place (though last year he was WAY less offensive...).
ReplyDeleteAgree. De Niro...NOT FUNNY.... Curious what you thought about RDJ, though. I can't decide. Slightly creepy. But, yeah.....funny....I think....
ReplyDeleteYES.
ReplyDeleteRDJ: kinda funny. Crass, a little creepy, but kinda funny nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI thought he was funny, but I'm a big Gervais fan and YMMV. Interestingly, he was on witih Conan last Friday, and he said that the HFPA told him not to hold back like he did last year. You say that to Gervais, and you get what you ask for. Assuming, of course, that they really said that to him and he wasn't just tweaking Conan.
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