Tim Allen is the one star, in 5 years of hosting Globes, Ricky Gervais admits he regrets making fun of

(Image: NBC screenshot)

Comedian Ricky Gervais preceded his stint as the host of this year’s Golden Globe Awards with an interview admitting his regret over a past joke.

The 58-year-old actor and creator of the British television series “The Office” spoke to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards which aired on Sunday, recalling a time he poked fun at actor and comedian Tim Allen.

(Image: ABC screenshot)

Though neither he nor his show, “Last Man Standing,” were nominated for a Globe this season, Allen did appear at Sunday’s ceremony where Gervais delivered a scathing rebuke of Hollywood elites aimed at their hypocrisy and political blather.

Allen’s movie “Toy Story 4,” in which he plays Buzz Lightyear, was nominated for best-animated motion picture. He was not targeted directly in the volley of critical jabs Gervais rained down on the mostly liberal audience, but Allen is apparently on Gervais’s list of regrets over his last four times hosting the award show.

He believes Allen “took it wrong” when he made a joke about him and his “To Story” co-star, Tom Hanks, who plays the character Woody in the animated films.

“The joke was him and Tom Hanks,” Gervais explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

“So I came out and said, ‘Our next two presenters, the first has won five Oscars, combined box office of five billion dollars. And the other, Tim Allen.’ Right?” he recounted.

“It’s a fine joke. I’m teasing Tim Allen. But anyone standing next to Tom Hanks, unless it’s Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford or Robert De Niro, that could be me. But it happened to be Tim Allen,” Gervais clarified.

“And I have nothing against Tim Allen. He’s a good actor. He’s probably a nice bloke,” he continued. “So even though there’s no malice and I can justify it comedically and everyone laughed, I didn’t want Tim Allen to think, “Oh, that was written for me. Why me?” Well, because you were standing next to Tom Hanks.”

The comedian’s roasting of the who’s who in Hollywood at Sunday’s Globes ceremony elicited laughs, groans and the occasional awkward silence.

“You say you’re woke,” Gervais told the audience, “but the companies you work for are unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney–If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent wouldn’t you?”

“So if you do win an award tonight don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg,” he added, referring to the teenage darling of climate activists.

“So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god and then f**k off,” he concluded.

Allen, who won the Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy in 1995 for his part as Tim Taylor in  his sitcom “Home Improvement,” which had also been nominated five times, has been a vocal conservative in the town that loves to hate anyone who dares not toe the line or who supports President Trump.

Once admitting that he likes “poking” at liberals who have a very little sense of humor about themselves, Allen recently lamented the “alarming” political correctness that has changed his live performances.

“It’s an alarming thing for comedians,” Allen said on ABC’s “The View” as he blasted the “thought police” and the fact that he now has to censor or explain himself during his stand-up comedy routines.

Meanwhile, Gervais has been an outspoken critic of Hollywood’s hypocrisy, creating a stir last year when he condemned leftists and the viral trend of throwing milkshakes at conservative opponents, calling out liberals for not denouncing the actions by protesters.

In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gervais commented on how “woke” culture may be ruining comedy.

“People like the idea of freedom of speech until they hear something they don’t like. So there’s still a pressure, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to water it down or back down and not say what I want,” he said.

“It’s a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homophobic. But it’s not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist,” Gervais added.” I’m happy to play by the rules. It’s just that the 200 million people watching have different rules. That’s the plight. When people say, ‘He crossed the line,’ I say, ‘I didn’t draw a line, you did.’ It’s relative. It’s subjective.”

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Frieda Powers

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