This article first appeared on newrepublic.com
The 2014 Golden Globes made for thoroughly entertaining TV. Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, unsurprisingly, struck the perfect tone, at once sharp-edged and good-natured. But on the whole – as awards shows go – it was a night of surprising self-awareness, when almost everyone seemed in on the joke of their own ridiculousness. So here are the ten highlights of a very meta, very enjoyable show:
1. Fey and Poehler’s sneaky you-go-girl humor, i.e:
- Fey: “Gravity is the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.”
- Poehler, after labeling Jennifer Lawrence’s face with her own name: “It’s hard to believe she’s a 42 year-old mother of two.”
- Fey: “August Osage County [proves] that there are still great parts in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps over 60.”
2. Fey and Poehler parodying the idea of intra-Hollywood female cattiness: the recurring joke of their fake feud with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, their introduction of Emma Stone (“Our next presenter told us earlier that she isn’t looking for new friends.”)
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3. Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie from The Wolf of Wall Street ad-libbing their way through a teleprompter mistake in which they were showed the wrong script. Said Hill: “Let’s be real about it, that was not for us.”
4. This wink from Robert Downey Jr.:
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5. The charming jitteriness of Spike Jonze’s acceptance speech for best screenplay (“…my agent, who gives me advice when I’m being anxious, like right now.”)
6. Jim Carrey: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard. I believe it was Shia LaBeouf who said that.”
7. The dumbfounded spoof of an acceptance speech that resulted from Andy Sandberg’s genuine shock at his win for Brooklyn Nine Nine: “The crew’s really good. The writers kick A. Everyone on my ‘team’.”
8. The bit in which Fey introduced her “adult son from a previous relationship” – Poehler in drag, who wandered through the crowd in search of a father, alighting on Idris Elba and Harvey Weinstein.
9. Cate Blanchett’s grateful, unaffected speech after winning best actress in a drama: “Can people at home hear this music, or do they just think you are suddenly having a panic attack?”
10. The cowboy swagger of Matthew McConaughey after his Dallas Buyers Club win: “This film was never about dyin’ it was always about livin’ and with that I say just keep.”
This article first appeared on newrepublic.com