Well, He Did Warn You

I’m not sure what I enjoyed more. The monologue, or the whining and crying about it the next day?

I’m talking, of course, about British comedian and actor Ricky Gervais’ savaging of the smug artistes, settled in front of their vegan dinners to receive their annual pats on the back from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This is Ricky’s fifth time hosting the Golden Globes, so you’d think the glitterati would be used to his lashing wit by now.

You’d be wrong. Remember, these are people who mock others and tell us what to think. The carousel is not supposed to run in the other direction. But by Ricky’s standards, or that of other comedians, who until recently seemed to understand that this sort of thing was their job, his monologue last night was fairly tame. And he did warn you. In ads leading up to the show, he described himself as “The wrong man for the job.” We know what he’s like. So why the shock and awe?

Felicity Huffman making license plates? Come on, you didn’t see that coming? Leo DiCaprio dating much younger women? As if he hasn’t heard that before (he did laugh, incidentally). Martin Scorsese is short? Why, yes, he is!

Ricky said it up front: “I’m making fun of their public behaviour, not things they can’t change about themselves.” Well, maybe Scorsese excluded. But there was a sting in his tail, and in one critical moment, he got thoroughly on the wrong side of the Left Coast. It was this little excerpt that may have rendered Ricky’s statement that this would be his last year hosting a possibly accurate prophecy. After looking Tim Cook right in the eye and skewering him over his company’s use of cheap Chinese labour, he zeroed in on the artists themselves:

“Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg, so if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god and fuck off."

Now, Ricky had crossed a line. How dare he question the righteousness of their political lectures? How dare he throw stones at the golden idol of climate crisis? Did he just tell us to fuck off? And what was that shit about Ronan Farrow?

Meh, I thought it was funny. So did one hell of a lot of other people, it turns out. No doubt, that’s why the HFPA got Ricky to host. The moribund Oscars, stuck in the mire of cancel culture, can’t find a host morally pure enough to meet the test of modern progressivism. The Golden Globes look positively robust by comparison. Of course, everyone except the clueless celebs and their media admirers knows people are really only tuning in for two reasons: to see if their favourite movie or show won, and to listen to Ricky impale celebrities.

The reaction the next morning was telling, saying a lot about how thin-skinned these people actually are. There seemed to be two main approaches in the anti-Ricky camp. One was to pretend it didn’t happen. CNN took that approach. Apparently, Michelle Williams was the big hit of the evening, and what was the host’s name again? Yeah, okay Jeff. Nice try.

The other approach was to “review” Ricky, and try and pretend that he bombed. The LA Times, and Rolling Stone took that approach, among others. Thanks for the helpful recommendations, by the way, Apple News. I’m sure it had nothing to do with Tim’s taking it on the chin, last night.

Pretending Ricky bombed, when he clearly didn’t, is further confirmation of what Orwell said about the left. If history does not suit their purposes, they’ll simply re-write it.

Meanwhile, Fox News, The National Post, and Breitbart all celebrated Ricky’s evisceration of their least favourite people. This probably won’t make Ricky, a self-described “Champagne Socialist” very comfortable. After all, he’s been known to skewer some right-wing darlings like Mel Gibson pretty ruthlessly (“I like a drink as much as the next man-unless that next man is Mel Gibson”).

But that’s precisely the point. As hard as it may be for partisans in our ridiculously polarized culture to accept, the test of a comedian’s integrity is his willingness to slaughter the sacred cows of every religion. Ruthlessly, and without apology. The only rule is; it had damned well better be funny. Going back to ancient times, it was the court fool’s job to bring low the most powerful and self-satisfied among us. To remind them that, yes, their shit stank too. That’s really all Ricky was doing last night. But nascent totalitarian movements like modern progressivism cannot accept this. The whole package must be consumed, without mockery or question. Because, if you’re laughing, you might be doubting. And millennial movements cannot abide doubt.

You see, it’s not enough to be a left-wing, vegetarian like Ricky. He’s questioned Trans ideology. He is now the enemy. Period. Ditto JK Rowling, well known Trump-hater. But she does not buy the whole package. So, over the side with her.

But Ricky does not do what the fanatics require of him. He does not bend, apologize, or beg forgiveness. He doubles down. And this resonates with a large portion of society, fulfilling the fears of the progressives. Laughter becomes resistance. When he told the stars to thank their agents and fuck off, he was speaking for tens of millions of people, people with whom he likely shares little or nothing else in common with.

Until recently, comedians understood it was their job to shoot sacred cows. To deflate the pretensions of the powerful. That was before the arrival of cancel culture, and outrage ideology. Now, SNL cancels the contracts of a young comic before he’s even had a chance, based on past “insensitive” material.

Of course, SNL is a prime example of what’s wrong with modern comedy. They’ve certainly made great hay of satirizing Donald Trump for the last three years. One would think they’d forgotten how to make fun of a President, given their eight years of reverent silence on Barack Obama, save for a few big ear jokes. Yes, he sure does have big ears.

Comedy has been mobilized to serve progressive aims, and that means controlling who, and what, gets laughed at. It’s hard to imagine comics of old like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, or Richard Pryor accepting that. But last night, Ricky Gervais showed us that he, like a handful of others such as Dave Chappelle, Trey Stone, and Matt Parker, have drawn their own lines in the sand. He refuses to behave and do what he’s told, like any good comedian ought to.

Ricky Gervais made comedy a revolutionary act again last night. Well, he did warn you.