ABC denies asking Ricky Gervais to host Oscars
Ricky Gervais is once again claiming NBC wants him to return as Golden Globes host despite his seeming bridge-burning performance last January, but this time he threw the Oscars into the mix too.
“NBC have offered it — they think they can persuade the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” he said at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival on Friday, according to UK paper The Guardian. “But I don’t think they will go for it.”
Then later Gervais reportedly added: “I shouldn’t do it. It’s a second encore. Don’t do a second encore. I don’t think I should do it. What am I going back as?”
Gervais apparently then said he’d been approached to be considered for Oscars host. “They said to my agent, Would he like to be on our list?'” he said. “I couldn’t do the Oscars. It’s a thankless task for a comedian. They don’t want to hear jokes, they want to hear if they have won the most important award of their career.”
Golden Globes telecaster NBC had no comment. But ABC, which hosts the Oscars, denies that they ever made such an approach.
It’s tough to tell here whether Gervais is being totally serious here, or playing some version of his own patented insecure braggart character — the type of guy who would certainly boast about any opportunity. Would you like to see Gervais back at the Golden Globes podium? Or, for that matter, the Oscars?
I wouldn’t, I want Billy Crystal back!!!