Conservatives rally behind Ricky Gervais

[oberliner]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - British comedian Ricky Gervais is the new darling of political conservatives thanks to the fusillade of insults he directed at the aghast celebrities attending the weekend's Golden Globe Awards.

Delighted at the sight of Gervais belittling Hollywood elitists who they maintain do likewise to them regularly, the right-wing blogosphere lit up with positive reviews, even while more traditional media was critical of Sunday's telecast.

Had Gervais "been as relentless in ripping apart Sarah Palin, her young children, Jesus Christ or George W. Bush, today the comedian would be celebrated as 'edgy' and 'courageous'," noted John Nolte, editor of the Andrew Breitbart website Big Hollywood.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70H7ZB20110118

[Drunken Irishman]

1. Had Gervais been as relentless in ripping apart Sarah Palin and George Bush...

The right-wing would hardly praise his performance. SO what the fuck is John Nolte's point? Am I to believe conservatives would have rallied behind him had he called Sarah Palin a whore or joked about how George Bush snorted so much coke in the 80s, he single-handedly kept the Colombian economy thriving?

Of course not.

[villager]

12. +1

n/t

[Toucano]

2. Stupid.

Poking fun at the Hollywood elite is not an act of conservative politics.

It's comedy. Like a roast.

The Hollywood elite love Ricky. They don't love Palin and Breitbart.

[JuniperLea]

4. Yep...

I'm betting a fair chunk of it was over the top sarcasm too. I didn't watch, but that's how these things go.

I would be very, very surprised if this were legit... very.

[Toucano]

9. Conservatives don't generally "get" comedy.

I wonder what's the contemporary equivalent of "Hee Haw" or "Earnest Goes to Jail"?

[JuniperLea]

17. Interesting thought...

Oh! The obvious! I'm sure they are mighty PO'd that The Whore of Babble-on's cable show will not be renewed.

[DaveinJapan]

30. King of the Hill nt

[Hannah Bell]

20. judging from you tube, some of the people he poked at are his friends. like robert

downey.

[mmonk]

3. Olivia Wilde said Ricky was killer that night.

I'm sure that's not the reaction the righties were looking for.

[BanzaiBonnie]

5. And there's no way conservatives

are going to celebrate an atheist.

[SidDithers]

37. Bingo...

his final line of the night "And I'd like to thank God.... for making me an atheist" was great to hear on national television.

Sid

[flvegan]

6. Short memories, them.

Gervais has insulted Palin a couple times. He compared her to his The Office character, mocking her openly, and he mocked her again on Graham Norton when they were discussing her porn parody. That's just what I know of personally.

[Dappleganger]

21. Yes, I remember that.

Nobody is sacred with him, LOL!

[stuntcat]

32. quoth:

"Nobody is sacred with him" That's how he's getting so much Hate from complainers! I love it, people showing their tails worse than he has, anything that sends people into this kinda tizzy's fine by me.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. He disappeared in the 2nd half of the show.

:tinfoilhat:

[leftynyc]

40. He explained that later

He said he introduced everyone he was supposed to - that he was only introducing those he knew or that he had the best jokes for -just a coincidence it left an hour of the show without him.

[tularetom]

8. Everybody I talked to thought he was funny as hell

He pissed off some tight asses in the organization that sponsored the awards, that's all.

The wing nuts are just operating off their stereotype that everybody in Hollywood is a "liberal" and thus deserving of disrespect.

[fishwax]

10. I didn't think he was that over the top

I've been a bit surprised at some of the reaction, I guess. His humor was a bit biting, at times, but I assumed it was always taken as, well, humor.

[JudyM]

16. Good Economist Response: Americans and Brits have different senses of humor

Ricky Gervais and the British Way

(snip) There has been considerable (though far from universal) anger at Mr Gervais in America, and it is not limited to Hollywood. Words like "disrespectful" and "mean-spirited" are showing up a lot, as are warnings that the comedian will never work in Tinseltown again. Over here, the American reaction to his jokes (which were actually pretty vanilla by his usual standards) are brandished as further proof of something that everybody observes but nobody can convincingly explain. America, despite being a young country defined by its extraordinary openness and freedom, is more bound than Britain by the strictures of politeness, sensitivity and good manners. (snip)

http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/01/golden_globes_controversy

[Dappleganger]

22. That was my response.

He started off as if he were at a roast, but calmed down as the evening progressed. I thought he was a bright spot, Hollywood tends to fawn over themselves too much.

[Courtesy Flush]

35. It was no worse than the average celebrity roast. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

11. They must have missed the part where he said he was glad to be an Atheist.

They're not going to like that. Although, maybe since he's not American he's allowed to openly not believe in God, unlike people in this country.

[high density]

15. That was my first thought as well

They also missed his entire film about how farcical religion is, The Invention of Lying.

[lunatica]

19. Actually didn't he thank God that he was an Atheist?

That's way too subtle for them. Too many nuanced layers of irony.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. He could have poked fun at all those highly talented right-wing actors and rock stars

except there aren't any.

[oberliner]

14. I don't know about that

You'd be surprised - more than a few lurking out there.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. Oh, I can rattle off the list of the ones that suck, i.e. Ted Nugent

but at least in terms of music, there's no comparison, quality-wise, between left and right.

That may not be quite as true for, say, film and tv personalities, but the right-wing "celebrities" that immediately pop to mind as voices of the right wing~ Kirk Cameron, Mel Gibson, Ben Stein, Gary Busey when he's not on cocaine, the most idiotic Baldwin brother (and that's saying something right there) .... hardly a Citizen Kane ensemble, if you ask me.

[RichGirl]

33. Actually...Bruce Willis is a republican.

And he did a real number on him. Listing off his not-so-popular movies and calling him Ashton Kutchers Dad!

[oberliner]

34. Bruce Willis: "I'm not a Republican"

"I hate the government, OK? I'm a-political. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."

For what that is worth.

[lunatica]

18. Since they lack the humor gene they thought Gervais was being sincerely critical

THey don't get it, and I can hear him laughing his ass off over this.

Did they even get it when he thanked God that he was an Atheist? I don't think they did.

[Merlot]

23. You mean the same people who thought Colbert really was

a conservative? Humor, subtly, and irony eludes those people.

[oberliner]

25. I think they don't know anything about Gervais at all

I'm pretty sure he is no conservative.

[Lint Head]

24. Ricky Gervais gets socialized healthcare.

[stuntcat]

27. fer real.

also thank god for making atheists :)

[Motown_Johnny]

26. "Thank God For Making Me An Atheist !" An instant classic

[deutsey]

28. They really need to turn the TV off for a while and get a life.

:eyes:

I didn't watch it but I heard the "buzz" around it this morning. Who the fuck cares?

[Monk06]

29. I love it when Gervais goes too far and he pulls himself out of the weeds by saying,

"Well, possibly"

Russell Brand's version is, "Well you know, I'm sayin, and you want to know why?",
followed by some very funny gibberish.

Cracks me up every time. He and Russell Brand compete with
each other to see who can insult the high and mighty the
most and walk away alive.

[SidDithers]

36. Conservatives really are that dumb, aren't they...

Must be the same conservatives that thought Colbert was a real conservative too.

Sid

[DainBramaged]

38. Why should we care?

:shrug:

[oberliner]

39. Why did you post a response?

If you don't care, don't respond.

Some people found it interesting apparently.