Conservatives have tended to shy away from Hollywood award shows because, in the past few years, they have all started sounding like rehearsals for Orwell's Two Minutes Hate.  This year, though, the Golden Globes, which hands out awards based upon votes from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, hired Ricky Gervais to host the affair, despite knowing that he would be politically incorrect and would show no fear when faced with Hollywood's royalty.

Almost as soon as he got the latest gig, Gervais made it clear that he did not intend to pander to Hollywood sensibilities.  Instead, he had some particularly choice words for political correctness's murderous effect on humor:

People like the idea of freedom of speech until they hear something they don't like. So there's still a pressure, but that doesn't mean I'm going to water it down or back down and not say what I want. It's just another form of what we've been through many, many times — it used to be called P.C. I think those things start off with very good intention and then they're mugged. It's a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homophobic. But it's not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist. I'm happy to play by the rules. It's just that the 200 million people watching have different rules. That's the plight. When people say, "He crossed the line," I say, "I didn't draw a line, you did." It's relative. It's subjective.

Gervais stuck with his principles and gave the Golden Globe audience what-for, vigorously and funnily attacking their golden idols, and then telling them not to bore or offend America by getting political.  Here are a few of the funnier (and less obscene) jokes Gervais made:

"[Afterlife] is a show about a man who wants to kill himself because his wife died of cancer and it's still more fun than this. Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so he didn't kill himself ... just like Jeffrey Epstein. [Crowd gasps.] Shut up, I know he's your friend but I don't care. You'll have to make your own way here in your own plane."

[Speaking about the very long Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and star Leonardo DiCaprio's penchant for girlfriends in their 20s,] "Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end, his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew is like, 'come on Leo, mate, you're nearly 50, son.'"

"You all look lovely all dolled up, you came here in your limos. I came here in a limo and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman. It's her daughter I feel sorry for. That must be the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to her. And her dad was in 'Wild Hogs,' so..."

"Apple roared into the TV game with 'The Morning Show,' a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. So you say you're 'woke', but the companies you work for, Apple, Amazon, Disney... If ISIS had a streaming service you would be calling your agents. So if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spend less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god and f--- off."

"Many talented people of color were snubbed… there's nothing we can do about that. The Hollywood Foreign press are very racist."

Here's the whole monologue (language warning):

All we can do now is anxiously await the Academy Awards in March to see if Hollywood's preening celebrities will take Gervais's message to heart.  America would be a nicer place if they remembered that nobody likes hypocrites and that it's their audience that made them and their audience that can break them.