The only sure bet at Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards is that host Ricky Gervais will say something funny at the expense of the Hollywood elite.
“I have specific targets,” the comedian told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Friday while talking about the upcoming gig and his new HBO comedy “Life’s Too Short.” “I’ve written the gags. But ‘targets’ is a word I wouldn’t use. ‘Subjects,’” he clarified.
Those bull’s-eyes, he promises, are all painted on A-listers in jest. “I’ve got nothing against any of those people in the room,” he said. “ I’ve worked with many of them. I like many of them. I admire most of them. They’re just gags,” he insists. “I’m not trying to, you know, hurt anyone’s feeling or give them a bad night or undermine the moral fabric of America. You know, I’m a comedian. I’d rather they laughed than gasped, but I cherish the gasps along with the laughs.”
There were plenty of shocked audience members at last year’s Golden Globes, when Gervais, hosting for his second time, took down everyone from Charlie Sheen to Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp to “some famous Scientologist.” But most of them are in on the joke.
“I think that everyone took it well,” he said. “I don’t know who was really outraged last year, because everyone I spoke to who I made a joke about was cool with it.”
Gervais said he stands by every joke he delivered at last year’s awards because he gets final say on the material he delivers. “If you get final edit, which I do and I demand, and you get your own way and you’re happy with what you’ve done, nothing else matters. You’re bulletproof,” he said, which is why he’s loading the comedy ammo to take down Tinseltown again on Sunday.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” he pondered. “You know, I end my career once a week if you read the press. Everyone says that’s the end. I only do things that could end my career now. That’s the fun. That’s my extreme sport.”
Hollywood, you’ve been warned.
