26 Funny Award Ceremony Jokes That Still Hit Hard

Steve Carell snagged the 2006 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series for his portrayal of Michael Scott in The Office. While it has since become one of the most popular comedy shows ever, at the time the NBC series had only premiered the year prior and was less on the radar.

In his acceptance speech, Carell told the audience that, not expecting to actually win, he only had a speech his wife (Nancy Carell) had written for him:

I really did not expect this so I didn't write anything. However, my wife did and handed me something. [Reading from the paper] I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for this great honor. I would also like to thank my wife, Nancy, for her constant support and for being so beautiful tonight. [Aside] That's true.

Thanks also to Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant for creating such a wonderful, groundbreaking piece of television… Uh, also to my wife, for giving me two wonderful children as painful as her labor might have been. Thanks also to an excellent cast, crew, and writing staff all of whom I am indebted to. If it were not for you, I would not be here right now. [Aside] I don't know about that. 

Steve Sauer… Holly Burrell… Nancy, my precious wife, who put her career on hold in support of mine and who sometimes wishes I would let her know when I’m going to be home late so she can schedule her life, which is no less important than mine. To my parents for not making me go to law school, and finally, to the love of my life, Nancy.

Nine-time Academy Award host Billy Crystal hit the nail on the show's self-congratulatory head when he remarked in his 2012 monologue:

So tonight, enjoy yourselves. Because nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems like watching millionaires collecting gold statues.

At the 2015 Golden Globes, repeat co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler struck once again at the now-married George Clooney, though this time it was more of an indictment of celebrity culture as a whole. Fey pointed out:

George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.

Co-hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey made a searing comment on actor George Clooney's penchant for dating younger women during their 2014 Golden Globes monologue:

Gravity is nominated for best film. It’s the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.

The veteran host mused during his 2001 Oscars monologue:

Maybe critics are right, maybe Hollywood movies are too violent. I took a nine-year-old kid to see Gladiator and he cried through the entire film. Now, maybe it was because he didn’t know who I was?

In terms of Meryl Streep jokes, Hugh Jackman's quip about the actress at the 2009 Oscars is up there:

Fifteen career Oscar nominations. That's a record. I hate to say it but when someone puts up numbers like that, it's just hard not to think steroids.