Ricky Gervais jokes aim for Jeffrey Epstein, James Corden and Cats as he opens Golden Globes

Ricky Gervais shocked the stars in his Golden Globes monologue by joking about Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, while taking aim at Cats and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The British comic, returning to host the ceremony for the fifth time, claimed that this would be his last round as Golden Globes emcee, and appropriately went out with a bang.

“In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world, from all different backgrounds,” he said. “But they all have one thing in common — they’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for you!”

Farrow was responsible for one of a number of exposés into the alleged sexual misconduct of Harvey Weinstein, whose criminal trial is beginning this week. While he failed to namecheck the disgraced mogul in his opening speech, he drew gasps with a last-minute quip about him that one person on Twitter called a "truth bomb" that "Hollywood needed to hear".

Next, Gervais rallied against movies made for cinema, arguing that “everyone’s watching Netflix”. He then recommended that viewers switch off the Golden Globes and instead watch his Netflix comedy Afterlife.

“You can binge watch the entire first season of Afterlife,” he said. “That’s a show about a man who wants to kill himself after his wife dies of cancer. It has a second season though, so he obviously doesn’t kill himself in the end – just like Jeffrey Epstein.

“I know he’s your friend,” he added. “But I don’t care.”

Taking aim at the lengths of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Gervais joked of the latter: “Nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end, his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew’s like, ‘Come on, mate – you’re nearly 50, son.’”

Gervais’ next joke was so obscene that he struggled to get through it himself.

“The world got to see James Corden as a fat pussy,” he said. “He was also in the movie Cats, but no one saw that.

“And the reviews – shocking! I saw one that said it was one of the worst things to happen to cats since dogs. But Dame Judi Dench defended the film. She said it was the role she was born to play. Because she loves nothing better than getting down on the carpet, lifting up her leg and licking her own m----.”

The final word of Gervais’ Dench joke was bleeped during the show’s live broadcast on NBC, with cameras cutting to the shocked expression of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Finally, Gervais talked about Apple, which has launched into the original programming business with The Morning Show. Gervais then delivered a withering put-down of Hollywood before exiting the stage.

“Apple roared into the TV game with The Morning Show, a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing,” he said. “Made by a company whose products are made by sweatshops in China.

“Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d all call your agents! So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech, right? You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f*** off.”

The ceremony's top prizes went to First World War drama 1917 and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which won Best Film in their respective Drama and Comedy categories.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge took home two prizes for her work on Fleabag and, while accepting the trophy for Best TV Series – Comedy or Musical, cracked a raunchy joke about Barack Obama.

Find a full list of the evening's winners here.