Do some of the angered responses to Ricky Gervais’ ‘risqué’ Golden Globe gig reflect how boring Hollywood has become?

Apparently it seems the legions of Tinseltown have forbidden known comedians to attempt to lighten the mood in their presentation of otherwise dull and predictable award shows. I am referring of course to the mixed reaction provoked by British comedian Ricky Gervais’ hosting of the 2011 Annual Golden Globes in LA just a couple of days ago, in which he poked fun at various topics surrounding the Film industry and it’s incumbents such as alcoholism, drug abuse, possible homosexuality, scientology, and the suggestion of Academy officials taking bribes. All in good humour you may say?  Well, apparently not, if you are to believe some of the press reports circulating the morning after the ceremony, some going as far as to suggest that Mr. Gervais had well and truly crossed the line and would ‘never work in this town again’ in reference to the old cliché.

A bit drastic one would think, especially seeing as that this was Gervais’ second Golden Globes’ ceremony in a row and that he himself is a comedian widely known for his mildly offensive, yet playful style of humour.  You would have to raise the question that the Academy must have known what they were getting themselves into when they hired Gervais for the job rather than some mild-mannered friendly face who would be less likely to go over board. Seeing as that humour has always played a big part in these dreary, fashion-show like proceedings, would the more grumpy, conservative elements of the Academy not be compelled to just quietly appease what was merely a funny man doing his usual comic routine instead of being so vocally defensive? All things considered, expecting a comedian to dampen down his act just so as everyone goes home happy is like expecting Keanu Reeves to win an Academy Award for best actor and director in the one night!

I must say that I, for one, have not been the biggest fan of Mr. Gervais’ work of late, particularly his recent foray into mainstream Hollywood pictures. In this case however, I just couldn’t help but giggle to myself when seeing him up on stage, shelling out abuse to his peers, (the jokes about the noticeably ageing cast of Sex and the City as well as the suggestion about certain Scientologists being the most memorable). To their credit, it also seemed that the majority of the audience took favourably to his quips, not resisting the urge to let their hair down for one night. However, no matter how popular Gervais may have been with certain sections of the crowd who know how to take a joke, there will always be more than a few people involved who end up taking the whole routine to heart. It is, after all, hardly surprising that members of the ‘PC Brigade’ will always be waiting in the wings for an opportunity to take the moral high ground in these situations, a fact of life that surely takes the gloss off trying to have a bit of fun, even if it’s at the expense of others. As the old saying goes, ‘You can’t please all of the people, all of the time’ and in this day in age I don’t think it’s unfair to request that a group of multimillion dollar earning actors, writers and directors, be able to take a joke. If this was to be Ricky Gervais’ last award ceremony then he certainly went out with a bang. No doubt when it comes around to Oscar time the Academy will have a suitably ‘tame’ comedian in place to host proceedings such as the likes of John Stewart, Ellen deGeneres or the well past his sell-by-date Steve Martin, who would all be loath to push the boundaries too much. In my mind however, comedy is all about provoking a reaction, which is why I will be personally campaigning for Gervais, or any other like-minded comedian, with the cheeky ability to question the Academy, in all its conservative glory, as well as, the most important thing, keep the crowd entertained! Do I have any signatories??