Ricky Gervais, who has hosted the Golden Globes five times, was a surprise winner at this year’s event for his Armageddon special.
Gervais, who was not present at the Beverly Hilton, took home the Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television award, the first stand-up award at the ceremony.
Gervais beat out favorite Chris Rock, nominated for his Selective Outrage special, as well as Trevor Noah’s Where Was I, Amy Schumer’s Emergency Contact, Sarah Silverman’s Someone You Love and Wanda Sykes’s I’m An Entertainer.
Gervais’ special, which came out on Netflix at the end of last year, saw The Office creator riff on the end of humanity, political correctness, family weddings, funerals and A.I.
Jim Gaffigan, who presented the award, accepted it on his behalf.
“It’s the first time that comedians are going to be acknowledged at a major award show. The Golden Globes, for 80 years, good looking people threw a party and then you guys finally decided to invite the talented people,” he said. “Stand up comedy is a brutal business. And thanks to Netflix, people get overpaid for it.”
Netflix was very likely to win this award given that five of the six nominated specials aired on its service, with only Sarah Silverman’s special airing on HBO.
Rock, whose special was the firm favorite to win, with its coverage of the comedian’s run-in with Will Smith at another awards ceremony, was asked to serve as the host of the 81st Golden Globes but declined.
Gervais himself wasn’t confident that he’d win, saying earlier today that he “won’t win, but it’s nice to still be up there in the mix.”
The award has been well received within stand-up circles. Bert Kreischer told Deadline, “As comics…it’s like whenever we take ourselves serious, people go, ‘Really?‘ So I think it’s cool as sh*t that we’re included and getting looked at, even in that light. I’m so excited to see the list [of nominees] for the first time. I’m going to watch the f*cking Golden Globes.”
