{"id":356570,"date":"2026-01-07T06:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356570\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T06:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:51:09","slug":"it-was-a-great-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356570\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It was a great joke’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ricky Gervais has revealed that a joke he made about Mr Tim Allen during the 2011 Golden Globes left the American sitcom star feeling hurt.<\/p>\n

The British comedian reflected on the incident while appearing on The Romesh Ranganathan Show, discussing his time hosting the awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais fronted the Golden Globes on five occasions between 2010 and 2020, becoming known for his sharp, often controversial humour.<\/p>\n

He admitted that not all of Hollywood\u2019s elite welcomed being the target of his barbs.<\/p>\n

\"Ricky<\/p>\n

Ricky Gervais <\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

“There’s a couple that I found out after didn’t appreciate it much,” Mr Gervais said, before confirming that Mr Allen was among those who took offence.<\/p>\n

The joke involved Mr Gervais introducing Mr Allen and Mr Tom Hanks as co-presenters in a deliberately unbalanced way.<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais explained that he had lavishly praised Mr Hanks, listing his films, awards and box office success, before abruptly introducing Mr Allen with no accompanying accolades.<\/p>\n

“I go out there, ‘Our next two presenters, the first was in Forrest Gump, Philadelphia,'” he recalled, noting that Mr Hanks had generated more than five billion dollars at the box office.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bTim<\/p>\n

Tim Allen was allegedly offended by Mr Gervais’ jokes at The Golden Globes<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

He said the contrast was intentional, designed to provoke laughter through bathos.<\/p>\n

“The second is Tim Allen,” Mr Gervais recalled saying, with nothing more added.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that while the joke was effective, it was also unkind. “It was a great joke, but it was a bit cruel,” he admitted.<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais said he later encountered Mr Allen following the ceremony, where the actor made his displeasure clear.<\/p>\n

\"Ricky<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais fronted the Golden Globes on five occasions between 2010 and 2020, becoming known for his sharp, often controversial humour<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

“I met him afterwards and said, ‘Listen, the thing is Tim, who would win standing next to Tom Hanks?'” he recalled.<\/p>\n

“There clearly was bathos in that, but who couldn’t I do that with walking out with Tom Hanks?”<\/p>\n

Despite defending the joke\u2019s construction, Mr Gervais conceded he understood why Mr Allen felt embarrassed.<\/p>\n

“He’s TV, sitcom, or whatever, but it wasn’t that bad, I do get it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is embarrassing to be the butt of the joke, even against Tom Hanks.”<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais also admitted that he was under no obligation to deliver the gag. “I didn’t have to do the joke. I can’t go, ‘I have to do the joke’,” he said.<\/p>\n

Discussing his broader approach to hosting the Golden Globes, Mr Gervais said maintaining an outsider status was essential.<\/p>\n

“I had to be an outsider to get away with it,” he explained, adding that pandering to celebrities would have alienated viewers at home.<\/p>\n

\"Ricky<\/p>\n

Ricky Gervais on The Romesh Ranganathan Show<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

He described excessive praise of Hollywood stars as “nauseating” for audiences.<\/p>\n

However, the comedian stressed that he never set out to deliberately cause genuine distress.<\/p>\n

Mr Gervais said he only aimed to offend those who had “done something wrong” and revealed he had occasionally sought permission from individuals before joking about them.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Golden Globes ceremony is scheduled to take place on January 11, with comedian Mr Nikki Glaser returning as host for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ricky Gervais has revealed that a joke he made about Mr Tim Allen during the 2011 Golden Globes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,830,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-356570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}