His expression of gratitude at getting the gong for best actor in a comedy will, however, go down in the annals of award-winning speeches for its fullfrontal ability to make benefit the glorious state of male genitalia.

"This movie was a life-changing experience, " Cohen began with all the navel-gazing schmaltz we've grown to admire in these events. "I saw some amazing, beautiful, invigorating parts of America, but I saw some dark parts of America, an ugly side of America, a side of America that rarely sees the light of day. I refer of course to the anus and testicles of my co-star, Ken Davitian. Ken, when I was in that scene and I stared down and saw your two wrinkled golden globes on my chin, I thought to myself, I'd better win a bloody award for this."

The Globes were big on balls this year. After Sacha Baron Cohen, cue Tom Hanks and his personal homage to Warren Beatty, winner of the Cecil B De Mille lifetime achievement Golden Globe.

Warren, Hanks assured us all, always had balls - "in the artistic sense, ha, ha". If the joke didn't work the first time, Hanks gave it a run for its money on four further occasions.

Warren, of course, was known not just as a great actor but also as a legendary stud, something Hanks felt free to remind us of. Wife Annette Bening could only fix a smile as Hanks actually asked the women in the audience to put up their hands if they had known Beatty's balls - "in the artistic sense, of course".

The Golden globes are generally agreed to be the tip-off for the Oscars. But whether we can expect another blast of Borat, or God forbid, Hanks is unlikely. The Globe's subdivisions of best actor in comedy/TV/film mean a wider range of actors qualify for awards, providing a greater diversity of expressions of gratitude.

Much more likely for the Oscars is a re-run of Forest Whitaker's acceptance speech for his best actor in a motion picture Globe, won for his astonishing portrayal of Idi Amin in the Last King of Scotland.

"Ancestors that let me stand on their shoulders and guide me, whispering in my ear - thank you."

A case of Sacha's good old-fashioned balls, Tom's pretensions to having balls, and Forest's balls for pure pretension?