From the Peanut Gallery

By Steve Kochems

Hey, welcome to the first edition of From the Peanut Gallery, my horribly cliche'd title for what is basically my commentary on an issue. To be honest, I've really gotta be drawn out by something to do this, but recently I was. I missed, for the 68th consecutive year, this years edition of the Golden Globes... and didn't really regret it one bit until I heard how outrageous Ricky Gervais was. And now, I've officially finally been made to care about the Golden Globes.

First let me say that clearly nobody learned what happens when you cast a real, honest comic as the host of what should be an easy evening for someone powerful and how wrong it can go. Just to be sure, I re-watched clips from Gervais' hosting duties the previous year, where he teetered the fence of offensive and seemed borderline drunk. So the Hollywood Foreign Press Association had to know what they were getting into.

Most of the stars had to know to some extent what could happen with Gervais up there- he's one of the few comics who doesn't need the approval of Hollywood to make money or be successful. He's widely popular in the UK and Hollywood can't change that. But what irks me most is how sensitive everyone seems about his comments. Sure, his comments about Robert Downey Jr. were just about worthy of a beat down, but he's a comic. Does anyone honestly think that if Louis CK got up there he'd be any more merciful? Hollywood today is littered with jokes waiting to be told. Hell, he didn't even make one Lohan crack either!

(Note: Surprised she wasn't nominated for something... yes, I know she wasn't in anything to be nominated, but the morons who thought The Tourist was worthy but True Grit wasn't should be criticized for breathing in poor patterns if you ask me).

My point here is that they knew what they were getting into and got the worst of it. Gervais will never host (or be allowed/nominated) there again. But can anyone out there really tell me that if thirty or forty years ago they let Richard Pryor or Rodney Dangerfield host it would've been any different? Or George Carlin? I guess what I'm getting at is that comics today are totally different and true ones are few and far between. Steve Carell is not a comic, Ashton Kutcher is not a comic (or much of an actor)- Ricky Gervais is. Comedic actors need Hollywood to thrive, good comics don't. And the ones that think they do (See: Dane Cook, Lewis Black (upsetting), Zach Galfanakis) are often shoehorned into terrible movies that are only made to bring in people from that persons fan base, who are then in turn usually disappointed (The Hangover is an exception) because the script, director, and supporting cast sucks.

The bottom line is that while I agree Gervais crossed some lines and would've pissed me off had I been a target, nobody seemed to see it coming when it was all obviously laid out before them. Does any of it really matter though? Seriously, who looks at two movies and says "well, this one was nominated for a Golden Globe!" and that's the deciding factor? I hate most major award shows because they are usually very corporate and often rigged.

(Note: I did have one person in the business who supposedly has a friend who transported 2009's Oscar winners to the show, which included best Actor Mickey Rouke, not Sean Penn, whose speech was so well timed for the upcoming Gay Rights Vote in California)

(Extra Note: I'm not against Gay Rights, just Sean Penn)

(Additional Note: I'm kidding, I'd totally do a movie with Sean Penn)

So to sum this up, I'll use an age old saying... Who cares? It's the Golden Globes! I don't care, I doubt Mike cares, my girlfriend doesn't care, and I don't think Obama cares- that's as big as my list gets. I don't even have interest in them, I'll at least look at the Oscar winners just to see how far off the Academy is from the obviously correct opinion that I have. So good for you Ricky Gervais, with this blacklisting from Hollywood, at least you'll never have to make anything as bad as "The Invention of Lying" again.