In a direct shot at the Oscars, the Golden Globes organizers have tapped Ricky Gervais to host next January’s awards ceremony. The dry-witted British comedian, who will be the Globes’ first emcee since 1995, brought down the house as a presenter at the 2009 awards show. (Watch his hit routine.) Can he summon the same magic to push the Globes past the increasingly bloated and feckless Academy Awards?
Oscar had better watch his back: This is a “huge victory” for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Golden Globes, says Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times. And it’s a “crushing blow” to the Academy Awards, which “desperately needs some heat of its own.” Nabbing Ricky Gervais “has raised the bar considerably,” so Oscar had better come up “with a bold move of its own.”
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