Who made the grade or gave shade, at this year’s Golden Globe awards? Our top eight moments

MERYL Streep’s smackdown of Donald Trump was a highlight, but Kristen Wiig and Ryan Gosling weren’t far behind. These are our top eight moments.

WHILE LA LA Land scooped the prize pool for bringing the all-singing, all-dancing musical back to centre stage in Hollywood, there was little of its whimsy and fun on show at this year’s Golden Globes.

In an underwhelming episode in the award show’s history, late night funnyman Jimmy Fallon set the tone early, when his opening monologue misfired badly — and most of the scripted jokes that followed fell flat.

Fallon had taken the La La Land lead early, prerecording an all-star opener, featuring Australia’s own Lion star, Nicole Kidman and best actress drama nominee Amy Adams; but once live, the failure of the central teleprompter left The Tonight Show host floundering.

Recognising how bad the production was unravelling, Fallon told the audience he’d spent one commercial break talking to Mariah Carey, who had been similarly humiliated by another Dick Clark Productions tech fail on New Year’s Eve.

MORE: Biggest Golden Globe surprises and shocks

RELATED: Hottest Golden Globe red carpet frocks and shocks

Jimmy Fallon onstage during the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty

It took the appearance of a wide-eyed boy from India [Sunny Pawar, with his Lion co-star Dev Patel] and two straight-faced comics presenting the best animated film prize [Kristen Wiig and Steve Carell] to get the night’s first smiles and belly laughs.

But things got serious soon enough, when Meryl Streep used her Cecil B De Mille honour to deliver an epic smack down of President Elect, Donald Trump.

The powerful political speech sent Twitter into meltdown and saw the left-leaning celebrity crowd, many of whom had backed Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the White House, leap to their feet in a standing ovation.

Here are the top eight highlights from the night:

1. MERYL STREEP TRUMPS THE DONALD

Acceptingthe Cecil B. DeMille honour for her lifetime achievement, Meryl Streep delivered one of the most powerful and provocative performances of her career using her speech to smack down Donald Trump:

2. RYAN GOSLING PAYS TRIBUTE TO WIFE’S LATE BROTHER

The La La Land leading man thanked his actor wife Eva Mendes and daughters Armada and Esmerelda for their loving support, but touched hearts when he dedicated his prize to his late brother-in-law Juan Carlos, who died of cancer last year:

3. FALLON PUTS ON HIS DANCING SHOES

The teleprompter fail seemed to really rock a usually unflappable Jimmy Fallon, but his best moment was the prerecorded piece, which took a page out of La La Land’s book and had the stars singing:

4. SUNNY STEALS THE SHOW

He hadn’t seen a movie [besides a Bollywood one] before he went to his own premiere in New York, but little Lion star Sunny Pawar better get used to a career in cinema; stealing the show with his appearance at the Globes:

Hottest looks on the 2017 Golden Globes red carpet

VIEW GALLERY

5. GLOBES GO LA LA LOOPY

Not since the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers has a musical duo like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone captivated Hollywood. The whimsical story, which won Damien Chazelle best screenplay and best director Globes is one for true believers:

6. CARELL AND WIIG AUDITION TAPE FOR NEXT YEAR’S HOSTS

Their chemistry on Anchorman 2 delivered laughs until we cried during an otherwise sombre Globes ceremony:

7. SAME SEX LIP LOCK SHOCKS

On the red carpet, Sarah Paulson planted one on her gal pal Amanda Peet (happily married to Game of Thrones boss man David Benioff); but the same sex lip locks continued inside the Globes when Andrew Garfield commiserated with Ryan Reynolds when they were both beaten by Ryan Gosling:

8. PARDON MY FRENCH! ISABELLE HUPPERT BEATS AMERICA

Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Ruth Negga and Amy Adams got to practise their fake ‘we’re happy for you’ smiles after French actress Isabelle Huppert shocked even herself by winning the best actress in a movie drama for foreign film, Elle:

Behind the scenes of the 2017 Golden Globes

VIEW GALLERY

A FULL LIST OF WINNERS IS BELOW:

FILM BEST DRAMA Moonlight

BEST COMEDY OR MUSICAL La La Land

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA Isabelle Huppert, Elle

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL Ryan Gosling, La La Land

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL Emma Stone, La La Land

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Viola Davis, Fences

BEST DIRECTOR Damien Chazelle, La La Land

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Viola Davis, Fences

BEST ANIMATED FILM Zootopia

BEST ORIGINAL SONG City of Stars — La La Land

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM “Elle” France

TELEVISION BEST TV DRAMA SERIES The Crown

BEST TV COMEDY/MUSICAL SERIES Atlanta

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA Claire Foy, The Crown

BEST ACTOR, TV COMEDY Donald Glover, Atlanta

BEST ACTRESS, TV COMEDY Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

BEST TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES The People v. O.J Simpson: American Crime Story

BEST SCREENPLAY: Damien Chazelle, La La Land

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Justin Hurwitz, La La Land

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: City of Stars from La La Land

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Zootopia

BEST LIMITED SERIES, TV MOVIE ACTOR: Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager

BEST LIMITED SERIES, TV MOVIE ACTRESS: Sarah Paulson, The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

BEST LIMITED SERIES, TV MOVIE SUPPORTING ACTOR: Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager

BEST LIMITED SERIES, TV MOVIE SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Olivia Colman, The Night Manager

Email: [e-mail]

Twitter: @byrnesh