It was a night of stratospherically high star-wattage – Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Elton John, the list goes on – and big wins for British productions at the 77th Golden Globes, a night overstuffed with largely unsurprising awards, host Ricky Gervais’s apathy toward award shows, and calls to vote in 2020.

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Top of the British victory wave was 1917, Sam Mendes’s technically audacious film following two British soldiers in the first world war, which won for best picture – drama and best director. Best actor – drama, meanwhile, went to Joaquin Phoenix for Joker, who gave a rambling speech frequently obscured with network bleeps. Renee Zellweger won best actress in a drama for Judy. On the comedy/musical side, the night tipped in favor of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and its supporting actor star Brad Pitt, as well as Brit Taron Egerton for his portrayal of Sir Elton John in Rocketman.

It was also a night of historic firsts with The Farewell star Awkwafina becoming the first Asian-American woman to win for best actress in a musical or comedy (“If I fall on hard times, I can sell this,” joked the first-time Golden Globes attendee) and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir winning best score for Joker, becoming the first woman to win solo in the category.

On the television side, the Globes extended the Emmys’ British invasion with numerous wins for stars from across the pond – Phoebe Waller-Bridge continued her awards season roll with best actress and best comedy for Fleabag, Olivia Colman ruled again for her takeover of Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, and Brian Cox triumphed as best actor in a drama for Succession, whose British creator Jesse Armstrong picked up a win for best drama series. Uncharacteristically for the Globes, the television wins largely tracked with critical acclaim or consensus; besides wins for the much-lauded Fleabag and Succession, awards went to the well-reviewed Chernobyl and its star Stellan Skarsgaard for supporting actor in a limited series, and what could be seen as a “best new artist” award to Ramy Youssef for his role in Hulu’s small but mighty series Ramy.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Olivia Colman accepts an award for best actress in The Crown. Photograph: Christian Monterrosa/EPA

The over-three hour telecast kicked off with a typically caustic routine from five-time host Ricky Gervais, who took aim at Hollywood’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein (“I know he’s your friend, but I don’t care”), film and TV executives who are “all terrified of Ronan Farrow,” and The Morning Show’s theme of morality, “which is rich coming from a company [Apple] that runs sweat shops in Asia”.

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Blasting stars’ enthusiasm to work for massive streaming companies, Gervais told the crowd to not use their speeches “as a platform to make a political speech”, and instead “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God, and fuck off”.

Several of the winners pointedly ignored Gervais’s advice; the night’s two most rousing speeches belonged to veteran speech-givers Patricia Arquette and Michelle Williams. Arquette, accepting for a repeat win as best supporting actress in a limited series for The Act, urged viewers to look past the pomp toward real issues. “While I love my kids so much, I beg of us all to give them a better world,” she said. “For our kids and their kids we have to vote in 2020 and we have to get – beg and plead for everyone we know to vote in 2020.”

Williams, accepting for best actress in limited series for Fosse/Verdon, built on her memorable Emmys speech on giving space for women to do their best work with a moving call for women’s right to choose. “I’ve tried my very best to live a life of my own making and not just a series of events that happened to me, but one that I can stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over,” she said – choices not possible without her right, as a woman, to “choose when to have my children and with whom, when I felt supported and able to balance our lives, knowing, as all mothers know, the scales must and will tip towards our children”. She concluded by calling on women “18 to 118”, to vote in their self-interest, because “it’s what men have been doing for years, which is why the world looks so much like them – but don’t forget we are the largest voting body in this country. Let’s make it look more like us.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tom Hanks accepts the Cecil B DeMille award. Photograph: Paul Drinkwater/Associated Press

The night’s other most resonant speeches belonged to the evening’s two lifetime honorees: Ellen Degeneres, accepting the Carol Burnett award for achievement in television from Kate McKinnon, who described the impact the comedian’s coming out had on her as a young woman, and America’s great everyman, Tom Hanks, introduced for the Cecil B DeMille by Charlize Theron as, simply, a man who “makes the world a better place”.

Phoenix also took a political, if slightly less coherent than Arquette and Williams, stance in his speech. “It’s really nice that so many people have sent their well wishes to Australia but we have to do more than that,” he said, referencing the country’s devastating bush fires. “I have not always been a virtuous man. So many of you in this room have given me so many opportunities to get it right … Together, hopefully we can be unified and make some changes,” such as, he added, not taking a private jet to Palm Springs.

This video has been removed. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Fire and politics take centre stage at Golden Globes – video

The climate change-fueled disaster in Australia received much attention throughout the night; best supporting actor in a limited series Russell Crowe wasn’t in attendance due to the fires, sending word instead to take climate action seriously, while Aussie native Cate Blanchett thanked well-wishers and urged for donations to first responders and those affected by the raging bushfires, because “when one country faces a climate disaster, we all face a climate disaster”.

Even Gervais had to agree, ending the night with a call to “get drunk, take your drugs, and also: donate to Australia.”