The Golden Globes and Ricky Gervais – Quibbling Siblings

Bob:

The Golden Globes are just days away and I have to say: I’m looking forward to them. I generally despise awards shows. They are self indulgent, masturbatory, lovefests for everyone and everything Hollywood. As if these overpaid ego cases didn’t get enough attention — do we really have to watch them giving each other awards? And, yes, this is coming from a person who loves TV and cinema enough to blog about them regularly.

What has me excited? Another year of Ricky Gervais and his “offensive” jokes. I just don’t get what the big deal was with his performance last year. Were his jokes a little mean spirited? Well, I’m not sure I could argue against it, but if there’s one group of people I’d like to see made fun of to their faces, it’s the Hollywood elite. I’m generally a compassionate person, but I am not going to rush to the defense of the standard Hollywood type — wealthy beyond all belief, extremely attractive, and oh so tortured by all the attention. In my book, Gervais’s jokes passed the one test that matters: they were funny. The shock value was certainly part of the humor, and I can understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but at the end of the day he’s back for another year — not everyone must have been that upset.

The fact that an award show hater like myself is eager to tune in should be a good indication that it was the right answer for the show. A little danger can go a long way.

Debbie:

Wait … you were unclear on how you really feel about awards shows. …

I feel the same way; I never watch them … except for occasionally the Golden Globes. I enjoyed the GG long before Ricky Gervais came along, though, just because it’s so much fun to watch everyone give their presentations / acceptance speeches while drunk. Good times.

You’ve got to figure that simply by leading the lives that some of these people lead, and then to be such public personas, that they know they are going to be targeted at some point. If people are offended at what was said about them, then they have some serious introspection to do. Gervais (from the parts I’ve seen / read about) didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re really missing out on a great thing about life. Putting your energy into being angry and offended is so draining, really. Just laugh and realize that you’re weird and that the people who matter are laughing with you, not at you. Honestly, everyone’s so uptight, I think Gervais is just what they need.

Bob:

Yes, drunk speeches can definitely be fun, and the Golden Globes are certainly a lot more casual than either the Oscars or the Emmys. They also have a fairly bad reputation. Even Gervais joked about people buying Golden Globe nominations last year. Looking over some of the shows and performances vying for awards this year, it’s hard to argue with the innuendo. There are a lot of curious choices.

In all honesty, though, I’ll probably just check out the winners the next day. Sure, I’ll tune in for the monologue to see what Gervais has up his sleeves, but then I’ll be seeing what else is on. After all, I love TV for the gripping dramas, the irreverent comedies, the unique programming that makes me think, smile, or cry. I don’t watch it to see pretty people get showered with praise.

Debbie:

Or drunk?

I’ll likely be catching up on Sherlock and catching screeners of Touch and The River. Perhaps I’ll catch some of the GGs in-between, but I’m with you — I’ll check out the monologue on YouTube the next day. Pretty people, be damned!

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 12, 2012 @ 11:00 EST5EDT