Gervais, who has a series on Netflix, said he could summarize the three-hour award show with a simple phrase: "Well done, Netflix. You win." The streaming giant came into the Globes with a commanding 34 nods: 17 in film categories and 17 in television categories.
Hosting the Globes for the fifth time, Gervais was perhaps even more cutting than before. He told executives in the room that journalist Ronan Farrow, who has exposed cases of sexual misconduct, was coming for them. He said something vulgar that got bleeped about Judi Dench's part in "Cats." And most of all, he mocked Hollywood hypocrisy, skewering stars for working for companies like Apple, Amazon and the Walt Disney Co. while giving speeches urging social change.
"If ISIS started a streaming service, you'd call your agent," Gervais told the starry crowd Sunday at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
"You're in no position to lecture the public about anything," he added. "You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg, so if you win, come up, accept your award, thank your agent and your god and (expletive) off."
The first award of the night went, fittingly, to a streaming service series. Ramy Youssef won best actor in a TV series comedy or musical for his Hulu show "Ramy." Best actor in a limited series went to Russell Crowe for the Showtime series "The Loudest Voice." He wasn't in attendance due to the wildfires in his native Australia.
Ahead of Sunday's show, some wondered how much the growing conflict in Iran would be talked about following Friday's targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. But in the show's first hour, the fires in Australia were the most mentioned news event by Golden Globe winners.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge followed up her Emmy haul by winning best actress in a TV series comedy. Her co-star Andrew Scott (of "hot priest" fame) missed out on the category's supporting actor award, which Stellan Skarsgård took for HBO's "Chernobyl."
HBO was also triumphant in best TV drama, where the second season of "Succession" bested Netflix's "The Crown" and Apple TV Plus' first Globe nominee, "The Morning Show."
Best foreign language film went to Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite," the Cannes Palme d'Or winning sensation from South Korea. Despite being an organization of foreign journalists, the HFPA doesn't include foreign films in its top categories, thus ruling out "Parasite," a likely best picture nominee at the Oscars.
The Golden Globes, Hollywood's most freewheeling televised award show, could be unusually influential this year. The roughly 90 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have traditionally had little in common with the nearly 9,000 industry professionals that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The HFPA is known for calculatingly packing its show with as much star power as possible, occasionally rewarding even the likes of "The Tourist" and "Burlesque."
But the condensed time frame of this year's award season (the Oscars are Feb. 9) brings the Globes and the Academy Awards closer. Balloting for Oscar nominations began Thursday. Voters were sure to be watching.
Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story" led all movies with six nominations, including best film, drama. Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman," with five, is up for the same category. The box-office smash "Joker" is a wildcard.
The path was more certain for Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," which is competing in the comedy or musical category. It could easily take home more trophies than any other movie, with possible wins for Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio — a 12-time Globes nominee and three-time winner — and Tarantino's script. Tarantino is also up for best director, though he faces formidable competition in Scorsese and "Parasite" filmmaker Bong Joon Ho.
The dearth of nominations for female filmmakers stoked more backlash than anything else at this year's Globes. Only men were nominated for best director (just five women have ever been nominated in the category), and none of the 10 films up for best picture was directed by a woman, either. Time's Up, the activist group that debuted at the black-clad 2018 Globes, was highly critical of the HFPA for the omission, calling it "unacceptable."
Last year, eventual Oscar best picture winner "Green Book" took best comedy, while "Bohemian Rhapsody" unexpectedly won best drama. This year, one of the likely best picture nominees at the Academy Awards wasn't eligible.
Last year's telecast, hosted by Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh, held steady in TV ratings, averaging 18.6 million viewers.
Tom Hanks, also a nominee for his supporting turn as Fred Rogers in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," will receive the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The Carol Burnett Award, a similar honorary award given for television accomplishment, will go to Ellen DeGeneres.