Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes

[Sendraguy]

So what do you think? Should we load Ricky Gervais, Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan into an airplane, fill it with a quarter of a tank of aviation fuel and send it over the Pacific?

Or should Ricky try to establish that he was actually born in the US and run for President?

Why do you Americans put up with these upstart Brits? Why tolerate the sneering, the snide remarks, the sarcasm? Do you secretly find it outrageous, but funny? Are you a little envious that, for whatever reason Gervais can, or appears to be able to get away with the things he says? Do you all secretly yearn to use the 'c' word with as much casual abandon as celebs use it in the UK?

The thing is, so long as I can remember the public in the UK cannot get enough American culture, be it film, TV, news and products. And British celebs, actors and entertainers have famously striven ( however hard they may deny it ) to 'make it' in the States. Today, thanks in part to the internet, the American market is open to British acts as never before. And Ricky Gervais himself has been one of the beneficiaries.I didn't see the Golden Globes myself, just edited highlights. But it appears that Tom Hanks and Jim Allen are pissed. Should they be, or was it all just good fun? I'd like to hear your views.

[DragonFire]

Totally hilarious, a HUGE finger to Hollywood’s elite… just one look on their sour faces was well worth it. I usually have little time for RG or his humour but this was spot on.

 

 

[Kev de Cauchery]

His humor is kinda of funny in a way.

 

And I don't think Tom Hanks and Jim Allen were pissed.

 

But I'm not American, so...

 

 

[EvaShandor]

So what do you think? Should we load Ricky Gervais, Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan into an airplane, fill it with a quarter of a tank of aviation fuel and send it over the Pacific?

Or should Ricky try to establish that he was actually born in the US and run for President?

Why do you Americans put up with these upstart Brits? Why tolerate the sneering, the snide remarks, the sarcasm? Do you secretly find it outrageous, but funny? Are you a little envious that, for whatever reason Gervais can, or appears to be able to get away with the things he says? Do you all secretly yearn to use the 'c' word with as much casual abandon as celebs use it in the UK?

The thing is, so long as I can remember the public in the UK cannot get enough American culture, be it film, TV, news and products. And British celebs, actors and entertainers have famously striven ( however hard they may deny it ) to 'make it' in the States. Today, thanks in part to the internet, the American market is open to British acts as never before. And Ricky Gervais himself has been one of the beneficiaries.I didn't see the Golden Globes myself, just edited highlights. But it appears that Tom Hanks and Jim Allen are pissed. Should they be, or was it all just good fun? I'd like to hear your views.

 

 

I'm not fully aware of what Gervais has done this time - I know that his live stand up is fairly explicit and the radio shows he did with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, he and Merchant essentially treated Pilkington like their whipping boy. As I understand, most of what he says and does is probably just to get attention and I don't care for his comedy styles.

 

As a 'Brit' (apparently), I do take exception to the idea that we're either gluttonous fans of US culture, or we're sneering down our noses at them, while cursing like sailors. Gervais is a very loud exception, and by all accounts, not an entirely pleasant person either. Looking at your comments about 'the Brits': well, Cowell, Morgan and Gervais are very polarising in the UK as well and not every famous figure behaves the way that they do. They are exception against the rule, and it says more about what the US has bought rather than what the UK will sell. Fantastic works suchs as 'IT Crowd' and 'Life On Mars' bombed when remade for US telly, whereas the likes of 'the Office' and 'American Idol' (originally Pop Idol back in the day) did extremely well.

 

As for 'making it in Hollywood', I would say that it is very hit and miss, as many actors who have only done small bits in UK industry, go on to do extremely well for themselves by comparison in Hollywood. There have been more than a few British actors, and Canadian ones as well, who are mistaken for having been born and brought up in the US. A lot of British musica acts do extremely well to the US in this same way.