There were no snakes, lesbian kisses or bizarre appearances by Michael Jackson. Instead, MTV played it safe at the 2006 Video Music Awards, held last night (Aug. 31) at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Even host Jack Black mocked the event's ho-hum vibe of late, proclaiming, "This show's been laying farts for the past 20 years and I'm gonna light the match." Sadly, after a promising intro, the show's writers gave Black very little to do until a humorous late-evening argument, reconciliation and performance with his Tenacious D partner Kyle Gass.

Lil' Kim did appear fresh from prison (but in a business suit that was a far cry from the skimpy getups of her past), and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline lampooned their critically savaged reality show with a pretaped segment before announcing Beyonce's best R&B video win for "Check on It."

But if the show itself lacked the big wows of years past, several award winners were major surprises. The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shakira came in with a leading seven nominations each, but took home just one a piece. Upstart rock combo Panic At The Disco! bested both of them by winning video of the year for "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies," although the band's acceptance speech was marred by a stage crasher who somehow got ahold of the microphone.

In addition, Blunt beat out Kanye West, Nick Lachey, T.I. and Busta Rhymes for best male video with "Beautiful," while the All-American Rejects toppled the likes of the Chili Peppers and Gnarls Barkley for best group video with "Move Along." Avenged Sevenfold, which has been a band for eight years, still wound up taking home best new artist over Blunt, Chris Brown and Rihanna.

With two each, Blunt and Gnarls Barkley were the only artists to win more than one award. "You're Beautiful" also won for best cinematography, while Gnarls Barkley's summer smash "Crazy" won for best editing and best direction.