Ricky Gervais will have the chance to use some of the same jokes again next year as he did this year as he will be returning to host the 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
This past January the Brit comic brought the house down with such jabs as, “I like a drink as much as the next man unless the next man is Mel Gibson,” while holding a beer and that was just the tip of the iceberg as many of his barbs were aimed at his NBC employers. However, that didn’t stop NBC from bringing him back aboard and from him saying yes, and it appears he actually let the cat out of the bag on his blog recently while shilling some of his products saying, “I will try to remind you of these and other Ricky-related products, between the tasteless jokes and insults during my hosting of the Golden Globes.”
Last year Gervais joked, “What the hell, I’m not going to do this again anyways,” but he couldn’t have been more wrong although he does tell Variety, “I was also surprised I said ‘yes.'” He then added, “I wanted to see if I could do a better job this time. Last time, I thought I was a little too safe.”
However, if you expect him to have a go at Gibson again like I suggested he told Variety, “I’m not going to have a go at him; he’s been through a lot… (though) not as much as the Jews.” Oh Ricky, you’re so silly.
It will be interesting if the decision to bring Gervais back will also offer the same boost in ratings his appearance did earlier this year when the ceremony brought in 17 million viewers, a 14 percent jump from 2009. This is also a dramatic difference compared to the Academy’s decision to have James Franco and Anne Hathaway host the Oscars, as they hope to continue last year’s trend as the 2010 Oscars brought in 41.3 million viewers, the most for the Oscars in five years.
The Globes, though, have always been more of a drunken celeb fest rather than a real award ceremony while the Oscars are more pomp and presentation. Gervais should bring the same kind of lively atmosphere you see in the clip just above and I, for one, am quite happy he’ll be on hand as I will again be live-blogging the ceremonies on Sunday, January 16, 2011. I hope you’ll join me.
