Gervais’ Opening Shots, Hits and (Mainly) Misses
Last night was the 2016 Golden Globes Awards and the name of the game was... awkward. From host Ricky Gervais' predictable, outdated and regressive jokes, to hideously forced "banter" between presenters to Mel Gibson's most car-crash public appearance since - well, since the last time Mel Gibson appeared in any proximity to the public, the Golden Globes demonstrated the worst side of Hollywood: self-indulgent, socially unaware with a dash of sheer irrelevance.
The tone was set not with Ricky Gervais' opening monologue, but with his appointment as host at all. After Tina Fey and Amy Poehler gave us a hilarious, searing and considered three-year respite from the Gervais' increasingly irrelevant brand of offence comedy, the Golden Globes had an opportunity to go on a fresh and modern direction, with the opportunity to hand over hosting duties to a fresh and modern face. Golden Globe nominee Aziz Ansari would have been a perfect choice, as his comedy style and latest series Master of None - which earned him a Best Actor in A Comedy Series nod and also allowed him to make one of the best jokes of the night - demonstrates not just charm, wit and energy, but most importantly, a social consciousness that keeps his finger on the pulse of society while also allowing his jokes to mature.
Gervais' humour has not matured. From headscratchingly dusty punchlines about Charlie Sheen, to a borderline obsession with jokes targeting trans people, Gervais' schtick of open disdain for the rich and famous hasn't evolved in the three years since he was last on the Golden Globes stage. But this routine had become less convincing and less effective since Gervais officially became one of these elite rich and famous himself. By becoming what he claimed to despise, he lost sight of what his comedy originally aimed to do. He's no longer punching up. He's just punching. And his misses are as painful as his hits.
The night began with a deliberate misgendering of Caitlyn Jenner, referring to her as Bruce, followed by a lengthy analysis of actor Jeffrey Tambour’s genitals, which was apparently funny because you know, Tambour plays a trans character in Transparent.
There was some searing and self-aware material about Hollywood’s gender pay gap, as Gervais remarked that “Jennifer Lawrence made the news when she demanded equal pay for women in Hollywood and she received, yeah, overwhelming support from people everywhere,” he said as the crowd in the room cheered. “There were marches on the street with nurses and factory workers saying, 'How the hell can a 25-year-old live on $52 million?'” Gervais continued, “Of course women should be paid the same as men for doing the same job, and I would like to say now that I'm getting paid exactly the same as Tina and Amy did last year for hosting this,” Gervais said of last year’s hosts Fey and Poehler. “Now I know there were two of them, but it's not my fault if they want to share the money, is it?”
Gervais then rounded up his opening monologue by reminding the nominees in the audience to keep the awards in perspective, calling the award “worthless.” He added, “It’s a bit of metal that some nice old confused journalists wanted to give you in person so they could meet you and have a selfie with you. OK? That's all it is.” He did however take the opportunity to remind everyone that he has three himself – before implying he likes to use one as a butt plug.
One of Hollywood’s biggest nights had begun.

Gracious Winners
The first few winners in the incredibly dull show were gracious, as Jobs actress Kate Winslet used her win for Best Supporting Actress in a Film Drama to recognise the achievements of women in Hollywood. "I just want to say, what an incredible year for women in film, and I mean, these categories are so crowded and crammed with incredible skill and integrity and I feel prouder than ever this year to be included I really truly do," Winslet said. She reiterated the message backstage in the press room, telling reporters that "there's a real sense of girl power this year in terms of performances."

After Maura Tierney (The Affair) and Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) enthusiastically accepted their awards for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama and Best Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, Hollywood Foreign Press President Lorenzo Soria gave a brief and authentic speech which celebrated film and television’s ability to “shine a light on violence and injustice.”

After this Gervais returned to give one of his better lines of the night, introducing The Martian star Matt Damon as “the only person Ben Affleck hasn’t been unfaithful to.” Even Damon, longtime friend of Affleck, had trouble keeping back his chuckles. This moment of levity has followed by one of gravity, as when Peter Kominsky accepted the award for Best TV Movie or Mini Series for Wolf Hall, he made an impassioned plea for preservation of the arts in Britain, saying “I urge David Cameron and the British government to do everything they can protect the BBC & secure its future.”

Oscar Isaac and Christian Slater (looking more and more like Jack Nicholson every day) were rewarded for their roles in Show Me a Hero and Mr Robot, while the ever-rambling Quentin Tarantino took to the stage to accept Best Score on behalf of The Hateful Eight’s composer Ennio Morricone. After Jamie Foxx nearly stole the show with a well-timed Steve Harvey joke, pretending to misread the award card and award Best Score to Straight Outta Compton, Tarantino took to the stage. Speaking about the 87 year old Morricone, Tarantino was effusive, saying “"As far as I'm concerned, he's my favourite composer. And when I say favourite composer, I don't mean movie composer, that's ghetto. I'm talking about Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. That's who I'm talking about."

One of the highlights of the night, however, came from an unexpected source – the presenting duo of Eva Longoria and America Ferrera. After Gervais introduced the two Latina actresses as “two people who your future president, Donald Trump, can’t wait to deport”, the actresses cannily showed how quickly Gervais, the Golden Globes themselves and Hollywood in general are to lump actors into one category based on the ethnicity. This was seen last December when the Golden Globes' social media account seemed to briefly confuse Ferrera with Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez, underscoring a feeling many ethnic groups have: namely that in the eyes of the masses, they are often lumped together as a unit and not seen as individuals. The two women were straight-faced and biting when Longoria introduced herself as "not Eva Mendes," while Ferrera said she was "not Gina Rodriguez." "Neither one of us are Rosario Dawson," added Longoria. "Well said, Salma," said Ferrera, referring to Salma Hayek. "Thank you, Charo," said Longoria, not missing a beat.
After Jon Hamm accepted his award for Best TV Drama Actor for Mad Men, one of the more disappointing moments of night occurred. Hollywood Golden Girls and supposed “squad” of the moment, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer took the stage together – and showed Tina Fey and Amy Poehler that their jobs are indeed safe. As their self-indulgent and ill-conceived segment about their famous friendship fell completely flat, the moment’s awkwardness was only compounded by Gervais’ dated jokes about the actresses’ movies Joy and Trainwreck - no, not the name of Charlie Sheen’s favourite hookers.” A Charlie Sheen joke? What year is this?

The Section With All the Men and One Good Joke
Matt Damon scooped up an award for Best Actor in a Comedy Film for The Martian, which also went on to win Best Comedy Film – a categorisation that had everyone scratching their heads, but proved to be a canny (if transparent) move by the producers, as by placing the witty but hardly comedic adventure drama in a comedy section ensured it won major awards, bringing it to the attention of the Academy’s lazier voters and increasing its chances of some attention at the Oscars later this year.

Best Animated Feature went to Inside Out while Sylvester Stallone caused a bit of upset as he accepted his Best Supporting Actor Award for Creed, as while he managed to thank “my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had”, he failed to thank either director Ryan Coogler or co-star Michael B. Jordan. Selma director Ava DuVerney soon tweeted “Well. I'm gonna go ahead and thank RYAN COOGLER + MICHAEL B. JORDAN since no one else is. Thank you, brothers. Good work.”
Irish hopes were dashed when Room writer Emma Donoghue lost out on Best Adapted Screenplay to Jobs’ writer Aaron Sorkin, but a highlight of the night was soon to follow as the nominees were read out for Best Actor in a TV Comedy Series. As the camera moved to Master of None actor Aziz Ansari, the comedian was seen reading a book entitled ‘Losing to Jeffrey Tambor with Dignity.’ The gag landed perfectly, but ultimately proved incorrect as Gael Garcia Bernal actually scooped the gong for his role in the acclaimed Mozart in the Jungle.

The Mel Gibson Saga
As Hungarian film Son of Saul won Best Foreign Language Film, Lady Gaga became emotional during her win for Best Actress in a Limited Series for American Horror Story, and Sam Smith picked up Best Original Song, the energy was dragging and no-one could argue when Gervais remarked that “this show is way too long.” But it was about to feel much, much longer.
Seconds turned into hours in the awards show’s most predictable misstep – having Mel Gibson come to the stage to introduce Mad Max: Fury Road. Gervais could barely disguise his glee at introducing the disgraced actor, and referenced his infamous anti-Semitic rant almost immediately. “Now I find myself in the awkward position of having to introduce Mel Gibson again. I blame NBC, while Mel blames - well, we all know who Mel blames.” Gervais continued, “I’d like to say something nice about him before he comes out. Here goes: I’d rather have a drink with him in his hotel room than Bill Cosby.”
The moment got even more uncomfortable as Gibson took to the stage and attempted to jab back at Gervais, but the host, determined not to let Gibson off the hook, came back to the podium and caused gasps and uncomfortable giggling when he asked the actor “What the fuck does ‘sugartits’ even mean?” – a reference to Gibson’s infamous rant at a female police officer.
We doubt Gibson will try that whole public appearance thing again for a while.

Wrapping It Up – Finally
After the Gibson debacle, the show couldn’t end quickly enough, and mercifully the final major awards were handed out swiftly. Mr. Robot won Best TV Series, Taraji P. Henderson was passionate and thankful for her Best Actress win for her role on Empire, and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress in a Comedy film for Joy. Irish director Lenny Abrahamson and producer Ed Guiney got a mention as Brie Larson thanked them after she won Best Actress for her role in Room.
Finally, The Revenant won two major awards, as Alejandro Inarritu won Best Director and Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor, giving one of the longest speeches of the night – a modest and composed offering that indicated he may have been practicing in case this is the year he finally, finally gets that overdue Oscar. DiCaprio gave thanks to the cast and crew and for director Alejandro Inarritu's leadership through the notoriously challenging conditions that the cast and crew faced while filming. He then used the end of his speech to highlight an issue embodied in the film.
"And lastly, I want to share this award with all the First Nations people represented in this film, and all the indigenous communities around the world," he said. "It is time that we recognize your history, and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interest and people that are out there to exploit them. It is time that we heard your voice and protected this planet for future generations."