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Ricky Gervais to host 2012 Golden Globe Awards

By Eleanor Harley Jan 13, 2012, 13:51 GMT

Ricky Gervais will host the 2012 Golden Globe Awards. Copyright by Landmark / PR Photos

Ricky Gervais will be hosting the Golden Globe Awards for the third time, so celebrities are advised to buckle up and prepare for a ribbing.

Last year’s award ceremony saw the British comedian poking fun at Robert Downey, Jr., Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Charlie Sheen and others.

“It’s going to be a night of partying and heavy drinking. Or, as Charlie Sheen calls it, breakfast!" Gervias joked.

Funny man Gervais introduced the next celebrity. “Robert Downey Jr. everyone. But many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail."

Gervais told Ellen DeGeneres that he was surprised by the bad press he got from last year’s gig.

“I knew what I was doing. It's the same as stand-up. I didn't think the press would…I mean you usually have to kill someone to get that many columnists, so I was shocked at the reaction. Yeah, yeah, I was.”

"I don't think I was nasty. If they saw my stand-up, their heads would explode. Comedy comes from either a good or a bad place, and I was just teasing them, you know. It wasn't a room full of wounded soldiers. These are the richest, most privileged people in the world."

The negative reaction Gervais received last year hasn’t made him tone things down this year.

“I keep having to write new jokes as I pick my victims, I mean targets I mean presenters to introduce. Some great people have confirmed BTW,” Gervais tweeted.

“No one knows what I’m going to say until I say it. That was my only stipulaton to host again."

The 2012 Golden Globe Awards will air live on NBC on Sunday 15th January.

For a full list of this year’s nominees, click here.