The 2020 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 5 could’ve been a decent kick-off to awards season, but a glum host dampened the evening.

It’s quite baffling that in the year 2020, the decision was made to once again invite Ricky Gervais back, thus marking his fifth time hosting and first time in four years. And it’s all the more baffling after the inspired duo of Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh hosting the telecast last year.

Right off the bat, Gervais set the tone of the Golden Globes, that of glib nihilism and absolute disdain for even being at the awards show. It’s of course fine and sometimes welcomed to poke fun at the frivolity and superficiality of awards season, but only when done right.

For a host to come out and bluntly declare that he doesn’t care and never cared with a self-satisfied grin is not clever, it’s just lazy. Gervais’ opening monologue was laden with outdated jokes that the Internet mostly beat him to — notably the age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends and how Baby Yoda has a striking resemblance to Joe Pesci.

The shock and awe schtick fell flat on its face with audience reaction shots ranging from annoyed to bewildered, most notably the below reaction from Tom Hanks. He also made a point to tell award winners to not bother with pleas of sincerity and instead to take the award, shut up and move along.

In the year 2020 with everything going on culturally and politically in our world, it’s such a privileged statement to make. The best moments of the night, actually, came from a place of sincerity, and that’s usually how it goes with award shows. Samberg and Oh were sincere in their excitement about hosting, as were Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (at least in the first year or two).

Kate McKinnon gave a tearful tribute to honor Ellen DeGeneres, speaking to how seeing the comedian on screen as a young girl gave her the confidence to live authentically as herself. Likewise, hearing Tom Hanks speak with such genuine regard for the industry and the people in it is the reason we want to hear our favorite stars speak during these things. It’s not to watch someone joylessly discount the entire affair before it even begins.

In this vein, seeing Renee Zellweger return to the stage 17 years later, collecting her Best Actress Drama win for Judy, where she essentially reintroduces herself to all her peers, is an example of a genuine moment that makes an awards telecast sing.

Sacha Baron Cohen as presenter ended up serving up the best joke of the night, delivering a perfectly timed dig at Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. In one simple moment, he showed how you can do clever barbs that feel effortless, not lazy.

Many who accepted awards throughout the night did not heed Gervais’ misguided advice and indeed spoke on the state of the world. To hear celebrities make a plea to their colleagues about how we all need to step up and help our world that is literally on fire, especially on such a massive and public platform, really does become the best part of awards season.

Michelle Williams spoke out for women’s rights, urging all women to vote in 2020, as did the always reliable Patricia Arquette, who never misses a moment to use the platform for good each and every time she wins.

Joaquin Phoenix, accepting his Best Actor Drama win for Joker, used the platform for good in his own, disjointed way, urging his colleagues to not only speak but to use their resources and really contribute to a cause. Stop taking private jets to Palm Springs, he said, as the music played him off.

Maybe the Oscars this year will follow in their own footsteps and continue without a host this year. It worked wonderfully last year and really proved that the highlight of an awards show isn’t the monologue at the top but instead a string of sincere moments from our stars throughout the night.

If the Golden Globes this year had done away with Ricky Gervais, it could’ve been a much livelier affair without all the air sucked out of the room at the top of the first hour.