Ricky Gervais agrees to host the Golden Globes

British comic Ricky Gervais seems determined to ignore his own advice by agreeing to host the high-profile Golden Globe awards on January 17 next year. The star and creator of The Office and Extras - the only two British sitcoms ever to win GGs - said back in March that hosting awards shows was a "thankless task".

"What's the best that could happen?" he asked. "You're funny? You should be. The worst that can happen is they say: Worst host ever!"

But Variety reports that he's agreed to do it anyway.

The decision to invite Gervais to emcee the awards is a departure for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which has run its prize-giving ceremony with no host since 1995. It is thought organisers feel under pressure to jazz-up the show after this year's Oscars went big with a singing, dancing Hugh Jackman.

Whatever his fears, Gervais has good form with the Globes. Presenting an award to Kate Winslett this year for her role in The Reader as a former concentration camp guard, he brought the house down. Reminding her of a previous on-screen exchange they had together in an episode of Extras, he said: "I told you: do a Holocaust movie and the awards come, didn't I?"

Of his change of heart on hosting, Gervais said he had been offered a free reign. "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down."

Nominations for the Golden Globes will be announced on December 15.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Patrick Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: "If the selection of Gervais is a huge victory for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Globes each year, it's a crushing blow to the Academy Awards, which desperately needs some heat of its own to propel its show back into the must-watch-TV category."

Stuart Levine, Variety: "The Globes haven't had a host since John Larroquette and Janine Turner did the honours in 1995... The HFPA will look at Gervais as a way to boost viewership, which has fallen by more than 5 million from two years ago and is at its lowest level since NBC took over the show in 1996."

Nikki Finke, Deadline Hollywood:  "Hopefully, Ricky Gervais will mock NBC, and Dick Clark productions, and especially the Hollywood Foreign Press Association when he hosts the bogus awards show on January 17."

Tom O’Neil, Gold Derby blog for the LA Times: "Gervais is a smart choice for several reasons - he's considered ultra-hip by the cognoscenti and he's handled himself deftly, and hilariously, at award shows in the past." ·