that can make Robert De Niro laugh like that is okay in my book.

he was speaking nothing but the truth.

are mesmerising, aren't they?

telling jokes is enough to make anyone look a divvy. Now I have no great love for Ricky Gervais, but I thought that was OK. Mildly amusing. And I mean mildly.

probably funnier than some of his films

This man does not make me laugh, and I am bored with cringing.

I'd much rather watch Ricky Gervais doing this kind of stuff rather than Jonathan Ross or James Corden trying to do this kind of stuff.

but that was great. Hollywood actors do their best work at awards nights, smiling through gritted teeth.

Gervais [...] appeared to bite the hand that fed him by targeting venerable Phillip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "I just had to help the HFPA president off the toilet and pop his teeth back in," he confided to the audience.

In interviews last week, Gervais vowed to ensure that he would never be asked back to host the Globes again. Early evidence suggests he may have succeeded. Asked afterwards if he would ever consider booking Gervais again, Phillip Berk fired back a terse "No comment."

- The Guardian

Oh, well. I laughed. OK, so his performance wasn't comedy genius, but it was amusing, I thought - and the funniest he's been for years.

...but if I can put my po-faced feminist face on, of all the things the vile films of Sex and the City can be attacked for, it seems a real shame the fact that the women are over 40 is the joke. Ho ho ho.

I think it is quite funny, but most of the targets are fish in a barrel aren't they?

...was some of the funniest material he's done in a while. Liked it a lot. Frankly, if you book Ricky Gervais, you should know what you're getting.

He's a nice guy, but I find his near the knuckle nonsense a bridge too far.

Fame has gone to his head, no matter what anyone says.

I think he's genuinely funny and if there is place that constantly has to have it's pomposity pricked it's Hollywood. But.. at the end of the day the Golden Globes are really no different to M4 Corridor Paper Vendor of the Year 2001 (Wernham Hogg Slough Branch 2nd). Lots on in-jokes and people who "like a mention".

But the one thing that I can't stand about RG is his whiney accent. Sorry if I've offended anyone from Berkshire but it's like listening to finger nails on a blackboard. How amny hours did the "royalty" of Hollywood have to listen to that? Serve the buggers right I say.

Not far enough. Most of them could do with a slap.

Wit or a divvy? Bit of both.

but that was pretty good. Could take more than five minutes of him though - and I kept waiting for him to do the stupid dance.

EDIT: I meant to type "a bit of an arse" but I quite like 'narse' now.

is playing the foole to to a bunch of fooles you gotta go where the money is. Lampooning the land of the lotus eaters has been going on since they bulldozed the first orange groves. It was mildly amusing but no new ground was broken.

Always good to see an antidote to sycophancy at awards ceremonies.

The Tom Cruise suggestion was hilarious.

but thought he was great.

Introducing Bruce Willis as 'Ashton Kutcher's Dad' was my favourite moment

They should ask Karl Pilkington... that'd f*** 'em right up.

have to have Gervais standing behind him, pointing and laughing, yelling 'No, this is funny, I say so, don't you know who I am?'.

schtick (written by some funny people including David Baddiel's brother usually) for the Comedy Awards tuned to the Hollywood mob.
It's perfect for those that need to be brought back to earth every now and then.
Would have been good to see them go for De Niro's choices of late and really go for the big guns.

Talking of the Comedy Awards, Channel 4 are REALLY milking it now they've got the rights eh?
Really helping to turn an irreverent night into something far more mainstream and dull? We shall see.

..not exactly 'cutting edge' is it?

Its common practice for 'edgy' hosts to have a whipping boy - in the recent past Jude Law I recall was the brunt. So now its The Tourist, Jennifer Lopez, Charlie Sheen etc..wow.

The BBC summary ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12205469) of his comments is as follows:-

"It was a big year for 3D movies. Toy Story, Despicable Me, Tron. It seems like everything this year was three-dimensional, except the characters in The Tourist. I already feel bad about that joke. I'm jumping on the bandwagon, because I haven't even seen The Tourist. Who has?
I'd like to quash the rumours that the only reason The Tourist was nominated was so that the Hollywood Foreign Press can hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. That is rubbish, that is not the only reason - they also accepted bribes.
"I Love You Phillip Morris stars Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor - two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay. So, the complete opposite of some famous scientologists. Probably. My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke."
"I was sure the Golden Globe for special effects would go to the team that airbrushed [the Sex and the City 2] poster. Girls, we know how old you are. I saw one of you in an episode of Bonanza."
On Jennifer Lopez - "She's just Jenny from the block. If the block in question is that one on Rodeo Drive between Cartier and Prada."
On multi-millionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: "Heather Mills calls him the one that got away."
While introducing Robert Downey Jr - "Many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail."

Its the arrogance of the man that really grates - his desperation to make a name for himself. The best reaction would be a communal yawn.

He's a one trick pony.

It's great to hear him talking about comedy with someone like Larry David - he has real love of the subject. I can't imagine he feels the same way towards presenting awards ceremonies. Personally, that's the last thing barring Panorama I'd watch if I wanted a proper laugh and if I were him I'd be both stuck for a decent gag and looking for the nearest exit.

and I think that was alright. Nothing groundbreaking, but reasonably amusing.

I find him to be like the kids who sucked up to the hard kids at school in general.

I thought his stand up was highly derivative, particularly of Stewart Lee - which he mentions in one set. Stewart Lee mentions it, I mean.

I like the office and series 2 of Extras, particularly the David Bowie bit.

However, I thought Cemetery Junction was - along with Soul Boy - among the worst films I have laid eyes on of recent years. Utterly dreadful, mawkish twaddle. You can't watch Kes or Billy Liar and then either of those abominations and suggest that they're in any way comparable.

I couldn't believe how horrific it was. And he's a smug looking twat, isn't he? It's not endearing.

I think reading his links in the edited form are the best bet here. If you saw the show they all got a bit samey after the first half hour - big build up of film/presenter then underscored by a brutal - and predictable- "shock" end. When Tina Fey came on and did some actual free floating silly gags it was a real relief. Far from needing taking down a peg or two I think the A Listers were right in expecting a bit more invention and also rightly detected a too artfully sour note on, lets be honest, somewhere that is RG's idolized home turf these days.

Now Shandling *is* a genius ... and for his thoughts on Gervais see

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201008/comedy-issue/comedy-issue-g...

he did the same thing last year. They bloody love it really, the pampered overpaid fuckwits. I can't believe he'd get anywhere near the stage without an army of laywers tearing the script to bits,

they knew exactly what they were getting.

...but I really enjoyed that.

It's what they pay for in that role.
Good jokes.

And at least he didn't do that silly laugh.

a "comedian" at a stag night. His idea of humour was to prowl around the audience and point at people

"Fuck me that bloke's got a big nose. Oi! Big Nose! Where are you from? Conk City?" For me that is absolutely the worst form of comedy and this is a marginally more sophisticated version of the same thing.

It really is a classic British thing to say that somehow these celebs deserve it because they are successful without having the same values as me. "Ooh look at him all high and mighty, he *deserves* to be knocked down a peg or two".

Well, for me, it's not funny. Not funny at all.

Fairly standard 'have a pop at the pampered celebs stuff'. Hand movements and shrug robbed from Rupert Pupkin, seeing as we're talking about de Niro. The scientologist could conceivably have been the star of Saturday Night Fever...

Gervais is sometimes funny, but far too pleased with himself. He's no Morris or Coogan.

did anyone see Bobby DeNiro spend his whole 5 minute speech trying to get a laugh and failing completely? If you want eyewateringly cringemaking, look no mfurther.

my condolences

In his 'greatest moments of your career' montage they showed a clip from Rocky n Bullwinkle which surely was his nadir. That was the biggest laugh of the night for me

...not that RG committed some sort of killer raid on the ego's of Hollywood (amongst whom he must be numbered these days and fair enough) but that his script was entirely one note.

The same joke recipe was repeated over and over. Positive build up, "shock" pay off. There were NO jokes for jokes sake. No invention, no real point beyond an insult.

As I say, I think the A Listers were quite right to raise an eyebrow at such artful sourness by one who CRAVES their approval.

Tina Fey was, as usual, just plain funny.

that Stan Boardman gets a percentage of the Fockers films?

where some Germans bomb their local chippie

I saw him do stand up and he was good - not as good as Robin Ince mind, who was his support - but Gervais does nick some ideas from others. He did a whole thing about religion including a line about dinosaurs, as in 'what about them, how do you explain that?' which was pure Bill Hicks. Then there's the Larry Sanders and Seinfeld thing. He's brought these 'influences' to the UK mainstream basically. But the cringe and wince school of humour has got rather tired now. This 'Episodes' show that's on at the moment I find quite unfunny and tiresome for the most part. And the Golden Globes performance is quite lazy. Yet did I laugh? Yes, quite a lot. So unless you are one of those who finds him annoying I'd say he is genuinely a funny guy - though I do feel a little bit tense watching him. But he hasn't done anything of great worth since 'Extras'.

Hmmmm, I had it on for 10 minutes and my lips never curled in a smile. Steven Manghan is not an actor and it felt forced and un-funny.
The problem for Gervais is that "the Office" set a new, very high standard. The second series of "Extras" came close but did not improve on the very original series. Steven Merchant as Gervais agent was by far the most entertaining.