Ricky Gervais Returns to Host Golden Globes, Hollywood Takes Cover

What do you do when a rude guest insults your friends and ruins your party? If you're the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, apparently you just invite him back next year.

Ricky Gervais is back on as host of the Golden Globes, despite having insulted pretty much everyone in the room at least year's ceremony, including the president of the HFPA himself.

Gervais also took some jabs at Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie's "The Tourist," implying that it was only nominated so that the HFPA could invite Brad and Angelina to the ceremony, and called Bruce Willis "Ashton Kutcher's dad."

The groans mounted until Gervais took at shot at Robert Downey Jr.'s history of drug abuse, at which point Downey quipped, "Aside from the fact that it's been hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones, I'd say the vibe of the show is pretty good so far, wouldn't you?"

The HFPA seems reluctant at the idea, but in a way their hands are tied. A source close to the HFPA put it this way: "If the Hollywood Foreign Press says yes to Ricky, it risks turning the Globes into 'The Ricky Gervais Show'... If it says no, the HFPA looks like it has no sense of humor about itself. The problem is, if you have Ricky, the show tends to wind up being all about him and how mean he can be. He effectively dwarfs the importance of the ceremony itself."

That last bit is epecially funny, as it implies that the Golden Globes are in any way important and that anyone ever paid attention to them before Gervais started giving them free publicity. Isn't that cute?

Deadline reports that there's a big-name celebrity (who remains unnamed) who refuses to attend if Gervais is on as host. Is it Depp? Jolie? Downey? Keep an eye out for absentees this year, should Gervais take the job after all.