The Golden Globes ceremony has a lot in common with my weekly Off-Broadway show — Ted Greenberg’s The Complete Performer. The audience sits around tables, everyone gets a little tipsy and you never know what’s going to happen next. As an Emmy Award winner, I salute the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for one of my favorite Sunday nights of the year.
 

 

On January 15th, I will be glued to the television, watching the 2012 Golden Globes, for five reasons:
 

 

#1) Ricky Gervais. No one expected him to be invited back to host the event after his scathing comments last year. Who and what will he make fun of this year? My money is on two-time nominee Ryan Gosling.
 
#2) The Ladies of the Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. Normally, Golden Globe winners Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster are better known for their dramatic work, but are nominated this year in Roman Polanski‘s dark comedy Carnage, an adaptation of the hit Broadway play. Michelle Williams is transcendent in anything she’s done post-Dawson’s Creek. Charlize Theron was heartbreakingly funny (alongside the fantastic Patton Oswalt) in Young Adult. And, Kristen Wiig may be my favorite in this category; her performance (and writing of) Bridesmaids was so hilarious I’ve started listening to Wilson Phillips again.
 
#3) Alec Baldwin. He is a comedy master. My girlfriend likens his performance as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock to Rip Torn’s fantastic turn as Arthur in The Larry Sanders Show. She’s right. Watch and learn.
 
#4) Enlightened. I have meant to watch this show. Now, that it’s got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series — Comedy or Musical — and a renewal for a second season, I must watch it.
 
#5) Rooney Mara. She helped my team, the New York Giants, win against the Atlanta Falcons last weekend. So, I’m rooting for her at the Golden Globes. And the Giants to beat the Green Bay Packers earlier in the day!