Golden Globes: 27 All-Time Big Moments

Whoopi Goldberg, who won a Best Actress award for her role in The Color Purple, took the stage in a show-stopping bright yellow tracksuit, white coat, and high-top Reebok sneakers. ''This is the stuff you dream about,'' said the sartorially challenged winner. ''I'm not going to lie. I've never seen all these people before!'' —Adrienne Day

The hearing-impaired actress Marlee Matlin, who portrayed a deaf student in Children of a Lesser God, accepted her Best Actress award in sign language. ''I'm not much of a speaker, he is,'' she joked, pointing toward an interpreter that had joined her on the stage. ''I can't believe it. I'm shaking!'' —Adrienne Day

Sigourney Weaver racked up two awards in '89: Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl, and — as part of a three-way tie with Shirley MacLaine (Madame Sousatzka) and Jodie Foster (The Accused) — Best Actress for her portrayal of anthropologist Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist. But even after winning those kudos, she joked about being nervous for some very serious work...in Ghostbusters II: ''I don't get to be possessed this time. It's harder to be a straight person all the way through.'' —Adrienne Day

Tom Hanks, who won a Best Actor award for his role in Big, also pocketed laughs with this quip directed at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: ''I married a Greek babe, so I know what it means to have affection for foreigners.'' —Adrienne Day

When Brad Pitt mounted the stage after winning the Best Supporting Actor award for 12 Monkeys, first on his thank-you list was not costar Bruce Willis, director Terry Gilliam, or then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. ''I'd like to thank...actually the makers of Kaopectate,'' said Pitt. ''They've done a great service for their fellow man.''

Caught nowhere near the men's room after the show, Pitt explained his choice. ''I have a nervous stomach, and it works. I'll be expecting those calls from Kaopectate any minute now.'' —Chris Nashawaty

Christine Lahti had to be fetched from the ladies' room to claim her Best Actress in a TV Drama prize (for Chicago Hope). Cracked Shirley MacLaine, the trippy recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement: ''I never saw someone practically accept [an award] while flushing the toilet.'' —Dave Karger

The showstopping antics of Ving Rhames were perfectly in keeping with the evening's loopy feel: Rhames tearfully turned over his Best Actor in a TV Movie award (for his role on HBO's Don King: Only in America) to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon. —Dave Karger

Who cares that Jim Carrey was in the Globes' comedy category when Man in the Moon was a drama? He still gives the funniest acceptance speeches in the history of showbiz. ''I am the establishment I once rejected,'' said Carrey in accepting his second consecutive Best Actor award, having also won that award for The Truman Show in '99. ''I am the Tom Hanks of the Golden Globes.'' (Hanks won two Academy Awards in a row, for Philadelphia in '94 and Forrest Gump in '95.) —Ken Tucker

Best song presenter Courtney Love both awed and cowed the audience when she showed up in a slashed-up blue Galliano dress that was a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. After acting miffed that R.E.M. wasn't nominated for ''The Great Beyond'' from Man in the Moon (in which she costarred), Love announced that Phil Collins had won for ''You'll Be in My Heart'' (from Tarzan) — then playfully refused to give Collins the trophy, before finally handing it to him. —Gary Susman

Anybody who's watched a few awards shows knows there's a protocol for presenters to follow: They're supposed to get up on stage, crack a couple of lame jokes, name the nominees as clips play in the background, and then open the envelope and announce the winner. Apparently no one hipped Elizabeth Taylor to that script: The Hollywood legend immediately ripped open the envelope and came this close to prematurely revealing the winner of the night's big prize (Best Motion Picture Drama). As the crowd gasped and shouted for her to stop, Taylor, clearly confused (''What? I don't open this?''), ultimately had to get direction from Dick Clark. The icing on the deliciously dotty cake: Her legendary announcement of Glaaadiator! as the winner. —Dawnie Walton

Edie Falco, winning for her role in The Sopranos, was literally speechless...with laryngitis. She was unable to thank anyone, but she made a valiant try, croaking a few words of gratitude and looking as happy as she could before heading back to her table. —Gary Susman

Jack Nicholson and the Golden Globes have been good to each other over the years. He's won six trophies and a lifetime achievement award, and in return, he's made memorable appearances. Accepting the Best Dramatic Actor award for About Schmidt, he said, ''I don't know whether to be happy or ashamed because I thought we made a comedy... Dermot Mulroney, his haircut alone should have let you know it was a comedy.'' He also praised costar Kathy Bates, referring to her as ''Bates Motel.'' His explanation for his free-flowing wit: ''I took a Valium tonight.'' Glad we can count on you, Jack. —Gary Susman

Mystic River's Tim Robbins won the first trophy of the evening, and his comments set the tone for the night. ''A good thing about this coming early,'' said the Best Supporting Actor winner (shown with presenter Meryl Streep), ''is I get to drink now.'' Robbins also forgot to thank his agent, which became a running joke in acceptance speeches throughout the evening. —Gary Susman

When Britcom The Office, on the little-seen BBC America cable channel, won an upset victory as Best Comedy Series, creator-star Ricky Gervais hardly knew what to say. ''I'm not from these parts,'' he explained. ''I'm from a little place called England. We used to run the world before you.'' He seemed just as surprised during his second win of the night, for Best Actor in a Comedy. He admitted he had nothing more to say and was ''just milking the time, really'' until the producers cued him off the stage. —Gary Susman

Some two hours into a disappointingly tame Globes telecast, and suddenly there was Jamie Foxx bringing a much-needed spark to the proceedings. His beautiful, meandering acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy (for Ray) ranged from hilarious (imitating his publicist) to heartbreaking (recognizing his late grandmother looking down on him), and for once, made us glad there was no orchestra to cut him off. —Michael Slezak

Law & Order: SVU's underrated Mariska Hargitay paid moving tribute to her late mother, legendary screen siren Jayne Mansfield, and her dad, Mickey Hargitay, as she accepted her surprise win for Best Actress in a TV Drama. ''Forty-nine years ago, my mother accepted an award, and my father was with her,'' said a tearful Mariska. ''And I'm lucky enough tonight to have my father here with me.'' Could somebody pass the tissues? —Michael Slezak

Accepting the award for Best Actor in a Drama for his grouchy doctor role on Fox's House, Hugh Laurie noted that he had 172 names of people to thank. Since he knew, however, that no one watching had the patience for that, he drew three names at random out of his pocket; ''and everyone else can just lump it.'' The lucky name-drop recipients: Laurie's script supervisor, his hairstylist, and his agent. ''That's not my handwriting,'' Laurie said of the last slip of paper. —Gary Susman

George Clooney seemed unprepared to win the first award of the night, Best Supporting Actor (for playing a CIA agent stationed in the Middle East in the movie Syriana). ''This is early, I haven't had a drink yet,'' he fretted. Among those he thanked was Jack Abramoff, the recently indicted Washington lobbyist. What kind of parents would name their kid Jack if his name also ended in ''off,'' Clooney wondered aloud. A few folks in Washington may be wondering the same thing. —Gary Susman

Backstage in the press room, the cast of Grey's Anatomy was asked a question about a now-infamous dustup in the fall of '06 involving Patrick Dempsey, Isaiah Washington, and T.R. Knight. (Washington reportedly used an anti-gay epithet about fellow cast member T.R. Knight; those reports subsequently prompted Knight to come out publicly.) Knight tried to lighten the mood by cracking in a goofy voice, ''What fight?!'' But Washington raced to the mic and dropped this rhetorical bomb: ''No, I did not call T.R. a faggot. Never happened.'' (Well, Mr. Washington, you kinda just did.) —Adam B. Vary

Really, would you have expected less from the Borat star? Accepting the Best Actor in a Comedy prize, British comic Sacha Baron Cohen gently corrected Warren Beatty on the pronunciation of ''Wawaweewa,'' then went into a long, vulgar, hilarious anecdote about his movie's notorious nude-wrestling scene, dwelling on costar Ken Davitian's private parts, particularly his ''wrinkled golden globes.'' After all that, he barely had time to thank the people who helped make Borat a hit: the filmmakers, and ''every American who hasn't sued me so far.'' —Gary Susman

The sixth time was a charm for Kate Winslet, who took home twin trophies for her roles in Revolutionary Road and The Reader. During her Best Supporting Actress speech, she was breathlessly giddy, quipping about her ''habit of not winning things.'' Then, in glorious Winslet fashion, she was no less surprised to be named Best Actress later that evening. Note to Taylor Swift: Winslet was there first. —Lanford Beard

Who doesn't love Tina Fey? BabsInLacrosse, DianeFan, and CougarLetter, that's who. During her Best Actress thank-yous, the 30 Rock star marveled at the great year she'd had, then told the audience, ''If you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet.'' With a triumphant dig at haters everywhere, she singled out her three top trolls, telling them eloquently, ''You can suck it.'' —Lanford Beard

Hollywood's own Miss Congeniality Sandra Bullock was a shoo-in for Best Actress thanks to her scrappy role in The Blind Side. She gave a tearful, poignant dedication to husband Jesse James, saying, ''I never knew what it felt like for someone to have my back.'' Sadly, just three months later, James was revealed to be a philanderer, and Bullock filed for divorce. —Lanford Beard

It was the chortle that launched a thousand memes. When pregnant Natalie Portman took the stage to accept her Best Actress statuette for Black Swan, she noted that her fiancé/baby daddy Benjamin Millepied played a character in the film who declared he wouldn't have sex with her. Just in case we hadn't put the pieces together from her bulging belly, she hammered home the punch line, ''It's not true! He totally wants to sleep with me!'' Cringe. —Lanford Beard

With a lager on the podium and a veritable suicide bomb of a monologue in his heart, Ricky Gervais took the stage for a second year as host. Three hours later, he had lain waste to all of Hollywood -- and, perhaps, the universe -- with jabs at Angelina Jolie, Robert Downey Jr., the cast of Sex and the City 2, Charlie Sheen, and Scientology. He was met with bone-chilling glances and general A-list furor. In the end, all the uproar didn't make a lick of difference. Gervais was welcomed back for a threepeat in 2012. —Lanford Beard

Collecting her second Best Actress in a Drama Series trophy, Homeland star Claire Danes wasted no time making up for two very important omissions from her first speech. According to Danes, after she delivered her acceptance speech for her role in My So-Called Life 17 years earlier, she burst into tears because she realized she'd forgotten to thank her parents. ''I'm just so lucky to have another opportunity to let them know how deeply grateful I am for their love and encouragement,'' she said, ''and any fulfillment I have as a person and actor I owe in large part to [them].'' —Lanford Beard

From their opening monologue to their closing words, cohosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey nailed their first turn emceeing Hollywood's booziest night (and earned two more bookings through 2015). One moment of genius? When Amy snarked about Kathryn Bigelow, Best Director nominee for Zero Dark Thirty, ''When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.'' Another? When Tina zinged eventual Best Supporting Actress, Musical or Comedy, winner Anne Hathaway for her performance: ''I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.'' From Meryl Streep to Taylor Swift, no one was safe — not even the Globes themselves. They staged a running gag in which they donned funny teeth and comedy mustaches to bomb the notoriously forgettable Miniseries/TV Movie categories as nominees from the absurd (and need we say fictional?) project Dog President. Masterful, yet not mean. Well-played, ladies. —Lanford Beard