Ricky Gervais will not apologize for the jokes he’s planning to tell during this weekend’s Golden Globes telecast.
At least, that’s what he’s been explaining in one media interview after another to drum up interest for the show. Usually, the avowed athiest just does his shtick and gets out of the way.
Heck, if the folks behind the annual Globes telecast don’t want him back for another hosting assignment, so be it, he often says.
Lately, Gervais has been downright chatty in defending himself against charges that he’s far more cruel than funny. So, will this year’s event, to be broadcast 8 p.m. Sunday night on NBC, bring more of Gervais’s politically correct firepower – hitting addict celebrities, aging starlets and people of faith?
Can Gervais resist a Tebow crack?
Gervais finds himself in a predicament. If he’s not at least a little outrageous his performance will be seen as a letdown. But, in Hollywood, you have to be the appropriate kind of outrageous. That means you can only mock politicians on the right side of the ideological aisle. Christians are fair game, Muslims are not. The Kardashian jokes write themselves.
The alleged outrage over his antics is apparently as phony as Pamela Anderson’s decolletage. Every time Gervais uncorks an outrageous comment the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, releases a shocked statement. A few weeks later, the HFPA reconsiders and finds the number for Gervais’ agent once again.
To be truly cutting edge, Gervais could unleash a fair but biting commentary on President Barack Obama first three years in office, the kind that could easily lose the room in a matter of seconds. Is anyone else doing that in the comedy realm? Or, he could pick up a theme started recently by George Lucas about why so few films with people of color are greenlit each year.
Awkward.
If Gervais slams the usual suspects he’ll be nothing more than a huskier Simon Cowell, an insult hurler as predictable as many of the movies being honored this weekend. Let’s see if Gervais can really let loose as promised. Maybe all the explanations are setting us up for just that?
If so, Gervais will have to watch the 2013 Golden Globes telecast from the comfort of his own home.