Gervais was brilliant, as always.
Some of his best zingers:
“Apple roared into the TV game with ‘The Morning Show,’ a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing — made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. You say you’re woke, but the companies you work for, I mean, unbelievable: Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent.”
“I came in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman.”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, nearly three hours long — Leonardo DiCaprio attended the preview and by the end, his date was too old for him.”
“The world got to see James Corden as a fat pussy. He was also in the movie Cats.”
“But dame Judi Dench defended Cats, saying it was the role she was born to play – because she loves nothing better than plunking herself down on the carpet, lifting her leg, and licking her own minge.”
“It was a big year for pedophile movies: ‘Surviving R. Kelly’; ‘Leaving Neverland’; ‘The Two Popes.’”
“If you win an award, don’t make your little political speech. No one cares. You know nothing. Say thank you to your agent and get the fuck off stage.” I thought he went recklessly over the top in unclever ways. My reaction was like De Niro’s: stonefaced, traces of disgust. But then again, maybe Bob was just pissed that he got snubbed. Every time they cut to him, his expressions were like, “What the fuck am I doing here?”
I would say that he missed the comedy mark a few times, but his best lines were just perfect, and his attitudes were spot-on even when not so clever. He blasted them for their ignorance, and he blasted them for their hypocrisy. He said things everyone knows, but is afraid to say to the faces of powerful people. The line you cited isn’t a funny gag – but it’s still 100% correct.
Of course some of his lines were just deliberately transgressive in his typical “give no fucks” way, but I like that anyway. I almost lost a mouthful of water in a “did he really just say that?” moment when he finished the Judi Dench joke.
That said, I think he still hasn’t ever topped his best Mel Gibson jokes from past ceremonies.
I’m unfamiliar with him & his style. Seemed to me like he was going for shock value most of the time; to make people feel uncomfortable. But yes, there was hard truth in most of his jokes. I guess if Frank Zappa or George Carlin were still alive & hosting, their jokes would’ve been very similar in a give no fucks way, even if more witty & funny than Gervais, so I suppose he gets some credit for being bold. Last year’s pairing of Oh & Samberg was pretty lame so by comparison he was probably the better choice.
I think you summed it up perfectly. For whatever it’s worth, I had the exact same reaction to the Judi Dench joke. That said, not to put too fine a point on it, if I’m not mistaken, his exact word was “minge”.
He just burnt to the ground every bridge in Hollywood since the dawn of time. Funny as heck though.
Gervais, talking about a show that has Season 2 coming out. “So you know he didn’t kill himself at the end (of season 1) – just like Jeffrey Epstein…I know he’s your friend, but I don’t care.”