The hardest-working person at Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony may have been whoever was in charge of the bleep button.
Never before have the words of so many been heard by so few during a national awards-show telecast.
Shaking off the professional gloss that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler spent the last three years attempting to apply to a ceremony that previously reveled in “surprising” wins, onstage snark and audience mishaps, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has clearly decided to return to its original brand of self-denigrating self-promotion.
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Golden Globe winners, including Rachel Bloom with her Golden Globe for Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical, stop by the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards press room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Actor Sylvester Stallone, winner of Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture for “Creed,” poses in the press room at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Kate Winslet accepts her Golden Globe for Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, left, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio pose with awards for Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Director, Motion Picture; and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama, for “The Revenant” in the press room at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Winner Oscar Isaac for Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Taraji P. Henson in the press room with her Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Matt Damon, winner for Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Producers Mark Pybus, left, Colin Callender and Rebecca Eaton, winners of Miniseries or Television Film for “Wolf Hall,” pose in the press room at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Jimmy Naples, left, and Sam Smith, winners of the Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “Writing’s On The Wall” from the movie “Spectre”, at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Aaron Sorkin, winner of Screenplay - Motion Picture for “Steve Jobs” at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10, 2016.
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Director Laszlo Nemes, center, actor Geza Rohrig, second from left, and other members of the “Son of Saul” team pose with the award for best foreign-language film for “Son of Saul,” in the press room at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday.
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Jennifer Lawrence won the award for lead actress in a motion picture comedy for “Joy.”
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Christian Slater took home the prize for actor in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television, for “Mr. Robot.”
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Gael Garcia Bernal of “Mozart in the Jungle” wins for actor in a TV series, musical or comedy.
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“Mr. Robot” creator Sam Esmail, center, and the cast pose together after winning the Golden Globe award for best TV series drama.
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Maura Tierney holds her Golden Globe for supporting actress in a limited series/TV Movie for “The Affair.”
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Jon Hamm holds his Golden Globe for “Mad Men.”
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Winners of the best motion picture musical or comedy for “The Martian”: Simon Kinberg, left, Ridley Scott and Michael Schaefer.
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Pete Docter, left, and Jonas Rivera, winners of the best animated feature film for “Inside Out.”
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Lady Gaga with her Golden Globe for actress in a miniseries or a motion picture. She will perform the national anthem at Super Bowl 50.
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Gael Garcia Bernal, Bernadette Peters and Lola Kirke share the Golden Globe for TV series comedy for “Mozart in the Jungle.”
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Which included, apparently, a lot of F-bombs. They began early when Jonah Hill, co-presenting the second award of the night (as “the bear” from the film “The Revenant”; don’t ask), made jokes so profane that half were bleeped.
Golden Globes 2016: Full Coverage | Complete list | Red carpet | Highlights | Fashion | Backstage | Behind-the-scenes | Ricky Gervais insults
The profanity muting continued with such increasingly regularity that at least twice it seemed like a “technical difficulty” until they finally peaked, not surprisingly, when host Ricky Gervais introduced Mel Gibson.
After Gervais — who has a history of insulting Gibson — insulted him again (“I’d rather have a drink with Mel in his hotel room than Bill Cosby”), Gibson returned the favor (“I love seeing Ricky every three years or so; it reminds me to get a colonoscopy”). Gervais went back to the stage to embrace Gibson and ask him a question, which was, of course, bleeped from the telecast.
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Comedian and host Ricky Gervais opened the show with jokes that made some laugh hysterically, and others cringe.
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Jennifer Lawrence accepts the award for actress in a motion picture comedy for her role in “Joy.” “Every time I’m up here, it’s because of you,” Lawrence said of her director David O. Russell.
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In the final award of the night, Alejandro G. Inarritu accepts the honor for motion picture drama for his film “The Revenant.”
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Brie Larson accepts the award for actress in a motion picture drama for her role in “Room.” After a long list of folks to shout out, she said, “I’m sorry to anyone I forgot, I’ll write you a thank you card.”
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As Taraji P. Henson walked to the stage to accept her award for actress in a TV drama, she passed out cookies to those around her, including one to Lady Gaga. “Cookies for everyone tonight, my treat,” she said for her winning role playing a character named Cookie in “Empire.” And just as she was asked to wrap up her speech, she refused. “I waited 20 years for this,” Henson said.
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After being announced as a two-time Golden Globe award winner, Jim Carrey made it known that he isn’t just a regular person, he is a two-time Golden Globe award winner. Though, of course, his dreams won’t be fulfilled, as he said, until he becomes a three-time Golden Globe award winner.
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Presenter Morgan Freeman announces the nominees for directing.
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Alejandro G. Inarritu accepts the award for director for “The Revenant.”
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Presenter Andy Samberg sparks laughs.
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Michael Keaton takes the stage to present an award.
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Sophia Bush, left, and Kate Bosworth present an award onstage.
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Maggie Gyllenhaal introduces the nominated film “The Room.”
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Music, what music? Ridley Scott made sure to get in all this “thank yous” while accepting the award for motion picture comedy for “The Martian.”
(Paul Drinkwater / Associated Press) The second-hardest-working people in the room quickly became the journalists tweeting what was said.
So it was that kind of night.
In other words, everyone may think the Globes are stupid and insignificant, but as long as the big names keep showing up, who cares?
And they all showed up, as they do every year. Well, Maggie Smith sent her regrets, but she’s Maggie (bleeping) Smith.
Everyone else was there. From Matt Damon, looking sheepish as he accepted jokes about his nomination for actor in a musical or comedy (“The Martian” was a comedy?) and then again as he accepted the award, to “The Big Short” costars Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling, the latter of whom feigned irritation upon learning he would not be presenting alone.
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Without question, Amy Adams is enjoying the evening.
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Steve Carell and his wife, Nancy, were among the A-listers at the event.
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Gina Rodriguez smiles for the cameras as she enters the room.
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Christian Slater, left, and Rachel McAdams join the festivities.
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Taraji P. Henson, one of the award winners, has reason to smile.
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Jeffrey Tambor and Kasia Ostlun make their arrival.
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Helen Mirren graces the affair with he presence.
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Michael B. Jordan, center, arrives at the party.
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Brie Larson was a winner for the movie “Room.”
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Amy Schumer and sister Kim Caramele pause amid the hubbub backstage.
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Queen Latifah arrives at the party.
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Natalie Dormer makes her way to the celebration.
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Terrance Howard and Michelle Ghent-Howard join the festivities.
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Brian Wilson arrives.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) America Ferrara and Eva Longoria had the smartest bit of the night, mocking a previous Globes mix-up by pointing out that they were not Eva Mendes or Gina Rodriguez, while Leonardo DiCaprio provided the evening’s best moment. Not with his acceptance speech but with the raised-eyebrow face he made as Lady Gaga brushed past him to receive her award for actress in a limited series (“American Horror Story”). She beat out Felicity Huffman (“American Crime”), Kirsten Dunst (“Fargo”) and Queen Latifah (“Bessie”).
So it was that kind of night too. For years, the Globes have been marketed as an Oscars predictor, but as television has become the hotter art form, the HFPA has increasing positioned itself as New Age tastemaker. The nominees all but ignored traditional broadcast networks and big shows in favor of smaller-known and streaming-service fare. Still, while Rachel Bloom’s win for the ambitious but struggling “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” made sense, two wins for Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” marked the return of the old arbitrarily crazy Globes just as surely as all those F-bombs.
On the positive side, maybe more people will watch “Mozart in the Jungle,” which is pretty good if not “Best.”
It was as if Poehler and Fey had never happened. Gervais was back just as if he had never left, opening with an often uncomfortable monologue poking fun of random celebrities (Jeffrey Tambor and Caitlyn Jenner were early targets), clinging to his signature glass of beer and repeating jokes about the worthless nature of the award and the shameless nature of the group bestowing it.
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Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence
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Helen Mirren
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Laverne Cox at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.
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Amy Adams; Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith; and Lady Gaga
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Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart
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Katy Perry, Taylor Schilling and Kate Hudson
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Christian Bale and wife Sibi Blazic
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Regina King and Rachel Bloom.
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Dwayne Johnson and daughter Simone Alexandra Johnson
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Saoirse Ronan
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Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Jason Leigh
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Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis
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Director Tom McCarthy and his guest
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Lily Tomlin, Denis O’Hare and Uzo Aduba
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Liev Schreiber and Damian Lewis
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Brie Larson
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From left, actresses Leslie Mann, Zendaya and Eva Longoria.
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Amy Schumer
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Sylvester Stallone with wife and daughters
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Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler
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David and Jessica Oyelowo
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Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, from left, Laverne Cox and Eva Longoria on the red carpet.
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Elvis Nolasco and Richard Cabral
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Wiz Khalifa
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Lola Kirke poses on the red carpet at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Emmy Rossum and Sam Esmail
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Zoe Kazan and Paul Dano
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Giuliana Rancic, Debbie Matenopoulos and Ken and Tran Jeong.
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Maria Menounos
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Ernst & Young couriers deliver the envelopes containing the winners to the 73rd Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Carly Steel, left, Brad Goreski and Louise Roe
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Fans in the bleachers watch the red carpet arrivals.
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Actor Alan Cumming documents the red carpet moment.
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Liz Hernandez, left, Carly Steel and Nancy O’Dell
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Nancy O’Dell at the 73rd Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Bomb sniffing dogs walked the red carpet January 10, 2016 at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) “It’s a bit of metal given to you by a group of confused journalists so they could meet you and take a selfie,” he said.
A fondness for gold and geometry gave the set a ‘70s game show feel, and more than a few winners had to wait for several minutes while presenters made jokes even after the envelope had been opened.
Composer Ennio Morricone won for the “Hateful Eight” and director Quentin Tarantino accepted for him, so we got a crazy rambling speech in which he invoked Mozart (who was having a big night), referred to film composing as “ghetto” and claimed, incorrectly, that Morricone had never been honored.
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg dutifully made jokes about the “TV people” behaving badly and having to walk a far distance to the stage, Sylvester Stallone won supporting actor in a movie for “Creed,” got a standing ovation and thanked his “friend” Rocky Balboa, and Gervais appeared at regular intervals to complain about the length and the stupidity of the show.
But Taraji P. Henson finally injected some life into the show when she won for “Empire.”
Handing out cookies as she swarmed the stage, she proclaimed “Cookies for everyone!” while in the next breath snapping at some hapless soul who had stepped on her dress.
Hyper and exultant she began her list of thank-yous only to see the “wrap up” warning on the monitor. “Oh, no,” she said. “I waited 20 years for this. You’re gonna wait.”
Tina and Amy would have been proud.
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