America’s superpower status is the flip side of its massive inferiority complex
‘You’re bringing a book?’ That was the reaction of Tom Colicchio, one of my fellow judges on an American reality show, when I clambered into the limousine taking us to the Emmys last Sunday. The programme in question, Top Chef, had been nominated for six of these awards and I had been flown to Los Angeles in case we won. My reason for taking a book is that I didn’t think I could muster enough interest in the ceremony to stave off boredom for its three-hour running time.
In fact, the telecast turned out to be quite entertaining, mainly because the people presenting the awards kept making jokes about how awful it was. Is that a paradox? Best joke of the evening was delivered by Ricky Gervais, who has carved out a career for himself in America largely on the strength of his ability to enliven tedious awards ceremonies by pointing out just how tedious they are.
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