Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais (twitter @ETCanada)

The man viewers loved or hated in 2011 arrived with alcohol in his hand, ready to have viewers and Hollywood’s biggest stars sitting on the edge of their seats. 

After the three-hour show, viewers and critics had different opinions on how the host performed. 

According to James Hibberd from Entertainment Weekly: 

 This time, Ricky Gervais could only really shock if he was polite — which actually seemed to be his plan for hosting the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards. During his opening monologue, Gervais was far less shocking than last year, taking shots at mostly safe targets like Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber and NBC, while his zingers about celebrities in the ballroom avoided last year’s gasp-inducing harshness.

Another EW writer had more disappointing comments.

His more aggressive laugh lines missed by being so random, as when he accused presenter Colin Firth of being “racist.” And he downright sucked up to George Clooney. And a “Like A Virgin” joke regarding Madonna? Sheesh. 

In a People Magazine online poll, however, an overwhelming 89 percent of voters thought Gervais was “hilarious” with only 11 percent believing he “crossed the line” during the show. Maybe the viewers liked him and isn’t that what NBC was most worried about?

Unfortunately, one of the hardest critics of Gervais was Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke. During her live blog for Sunday’s telecast, Finke thought the host “stunk.” In fact, halfway through the show, Finke wrote, “I’m truly embarrassed for Ricky Gervais that he felt the need to blow so much smoke up George Clooney’s ass. He’s killing his career right now.” 

After the show aired, Gervais spoke with Deadline Hollywood and was asked how the show went. Gervais believed it was even better than last year. “The crowd was with me this time. They went where I went. It’s like they were ready for me this time and it felt pitch-perfect.”

What do you think of Gervais’ performance as host? Was it better or worst than 2011? Let us know by commenting below. 

Reach writer Mike Vulpo here and follow him on Twitter here

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