The first ladies of comedy, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, were back Sunday night to host the Golden Globes for a second time, and the duo were as dynamic and witty as ever. The night was especially momentous for Poehler, who was not only a host, but a nominee and Golden Globe winner of Best Actress in a TV Series - Comedy for her role as Leslie Knope in the NBC show, “Parks and Recreation.”
The wins for “American Hustle” started off early in the night. Jennifer Lawrence was just as frank and adorable as always as she was escorted up the stairs (to prevent another falling event like when she received her award last year) and nervously accepted her award for Best Supporting Actress in the 1970s mafia movie. “American Hustle” also won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical thanks to Amy Adams compelling performance.
Best Motion Picture – Drama went to “12 Years a Slave.” “12 Years” and “American Hustle” will likely face off at the Oscars for the title of Best Picture, as the Golden Globes are often seen as a forecast for Oscar winnings.
Audience favorite “Breaking Bad” raked in the awards Sunday night, as Bryan Cranston brought home his first Golden Globe for Best Television Series Actor in a Drama, and the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, collected the award for Best Television Series in the Drama. Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman, was looked over for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in favor of veteran actor Jon Voight for his work in “Ray Donovan.”
Between roasting the nominees by poking fun at their movie roles, Fey and Poehler put on odd but endearing acts, such as when Poehler pretended to be Fey’s standoffish, embarassed adult son in search of his father among the nominees in the audience.
It was truly a night of Saturday Night Live alums. In addition to both Fey and Poehler, former SNL writer and Weekend Update Host Seth Meyers presented and handed off the award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical to his buddy, Andy Samberg, for his new Fox sitcom, “Brooklyn-Nine-Nine.” Jimmy Fallon, also a former Weekend Update host, presented later that night.
Rock stars mingled among the actors and actresses, and U2 won for best original song, “Ordinary Love,” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.” Onstage, Bono credited the song’s success to Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, who helped the band with the song behind the scenes. The band focused their speeches on Mandela, who was a prominent figure in their lives and in their music, as they wrote several songs that were inspired by the apartheid in South Africa.
This year’s lifetime achievement award went to Woody Allen, who was notably absent from the night. Diane Keaton made a speech in his honor
The night was met with few snags, such as when Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie were forced to improvise when the teleprompter put up the wrong lines when they were supposed to be introducing their nominated film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Someone onstage passed the two a paper with their lines, and the two made do.
Some odd behavior was seen when P. Diddy took the stage – and took Usher’s spot in front of the mic, before being politely pushed aside (a bit more politely than when Bono stpeped away from Diddy's hug onstage). Diddy seemed a bit out of it as he congratulated the winner that Usher announced and realized that they had “partied” before on a boat in St. Bart’s. He then crashed Alex Ebert’s win by standing behind him during his speech, and afterward told the audience, “Everybody just keep drinking – it’ll all be over soon.”
Though there were several glitches and letdowns, the night was still comedic as usual, even if you were not drinking.