Ricky Gervais heads back behind the podium as the host of the Golden Globes on Sunday, and he’s confident there are no bad feelings among the Hollywood community following his controversial gig last year.
“I’m going to do a monologue about the year and then introduce six or seven people throughout the show like I did last year,” Ricky said of his game plan on Friday at the HBO Television Critics Association Winter 2012 Session, where he was promoting his upcoming comedy, “Life’s Too Short.” “I’ve got nothing against any of those people in the room. I’ve worked with many of them, I like many of them, I admire most of them. They’re just gags, I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings or give them a bad night or undermine the moral fabric of America. I’m a comedian.”
Ricky, who spit out jokes about Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie’s “The Tourist,” Tim Allen and Robert Downey Jr. among others last year, said he is happy with whatever reaction his hosting gig brings.
“I’d rather they laugh than gasp, but I cherish the gasps along with the laughs,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s I think that everyone took it well [last year]. I don’t know who was really outraged last year, ‘cause everyone I spoke to, who I made a joke about, was cool with it.”
Ricky joked that he decided to accept the gig a second time because, “I kept reading reports the press saying he’ll never been invited back. I did it to annoy them,” he laughed.
“No, what’s the worse that can happen?” he continued. “I end my career once a week if you read the press… [They say] I only do things that can end my career — that’s the fun, that’s my extreme sport. I think if you get final edit, which I do and I demand, and you get your own way and you’re happy with what you’ve done, nothing else matters. You’re bulletproof.”
The returning host went on to insist that his comedy doesn’t come from a mean place.
“I’m not one off those [comedians who thinks] comedy is your conscious taking the day off,” he said. “My conscience never takes the day off… I can justify it and I stand by it as I do every joke I did last year and I don’t care. I don’t care what people think.”
“Life’s Too Short” premieres on February 19 on HBO. The Golden Globes air Sunday night on NBC.
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