Halle Berry, Lady Gaga and Emily Blunt light up Hollywood benefit night

The trio of famous ladies were among dozens of celebrities appearing at a private dinner to read awkwardly from a teleprompter about the non-profit arts organisations benefiting this year from two million dollars in Golden Globe show spoils.

The HFPA hosted a 90-minute star parade at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, as one actor after the next came up to read about the 55 grant recipients.

The event isn’t televised, so there’s room to go off script or use profanity. The first presenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, set the tone for the evening when she did both.

“If you want to have a party, and you want to give away two million dollars, Lady Gaga is going to come to the (expletive) party,” Jamie said.

Her announcement prompted Gaga’s confession.

“When Jamie Lee Curtis said my name, I snarfed an olive into my nose,” the singer said. “And a little, tiny piece of it is still there.”

Halle Berry apologised that she had trouble reading the teleprompter without her glasses, and revealed her age was to blame. “I’m 49 tomorrow,” she said.

When Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro missed their cue to take the stage, Jane Fonda got laughs with her ad-lib.

“You know Benicio, he does seem a little bit unreliable, doesn’t he?” she said. “You look into his eyes — really interesting, maybe not so reliable. But Emily Blunt, you would think she’d show up on time, right?

“I don’t think they’re off making out somewhere,” Jane continued. “This is really funny! I have no idea where they are.”

When the two stars made it to the stage, Emily confessed that she couldn’t see the teleprompter at the back of the room and repeatedly asked Benicio for his help.

“I’m amazed how blind I am,” she said. “It’s a bit upsetting.”

The HFPA has long shared a portion of its awards-show earnings with schools, arts organisations and film restoration projects, and stars often unconnected with those groups accept the grants on their behalf. The HFPA has donated more than 23 million dollars to date, including two million dollars for a new media arts centre at Los Angeles City College.

Other recipients this year include the Sundance Institute, Ghetto Film School, Ebert Fest, the Film Foundation, Los Angeles Conservancy and Inner City Arts.

Bryan Cranston, Allison Janney, Jon Hamm, Elizabeth Banks, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ice Cube, Andrew Garfield, Sarah Silverman, America Ferrera, Joe Manganiello and Jason Isaacs were among the stars accepting the grants.

Jason Isaacs joked that he misunderstood when he initially got a phone call from the HFPA asking him to give money.

“I thought, ‘I didn’t think that things worked like that any more, but whatever it takes.’ And it turns out it’s to give money away,” he said. “What kind of people would put on a TV show in Hollywood, make a (expletive) of money and give it all away? Only foreigners.”