Gervais is in the New York Times Magazine, where David Itzkoff explains his comedic swings from kind impulses to mean-spirited rawness. In Vulture, Willa Paskin worries that all the focus on Gervais’ edge is leading him to buy his own hype, obscuring the fact that he’s very much a part of the club he got credit for lampooning. NBC’s own ad campaign features Gervais talking about how controversial it is for him to be back. In as much as the 2012 Globes are must-see television, it’s supposed to be because of the man riffing at the podium, rather than the artists who will deliver grateful speeches from it.

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Since the Golden Globes nominate both films and actors in two streams of categories -- what they call "drama" vs. "musical or comedy" -- they have the luxury of not winnowing down the awards race at all, and just handing things out promiscuously. So you have to look at the Globe nominations and ask, in effect, "Which of these things does not belong here?"

For instance, I have difficulty believing that "The Ides of March," "50/50" or "Bridesmaids" are legitimate Oscar contenders, and all three of those just got best-picture nods from the Globes. (Given that we don't know how many films the Academy will nominate, I suppose their presence creates intriguing possibilities.) Similarly, there were some improbable nominations in the acting categories. No one seriously expects Brendan Gleeson or Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Kristen Wiig to be among the nominees on Oscar night -- which is not in any way a suggestion that their work doesn't deserve it. I'm strictly playing horse-race analyst here.

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Expect more of that next year. The Hollywood Foreign Press wants Ricky Gervais and his headline-grabbing one-liners back on stage next year. The British comedian drew some criticism for being a meanie with a performance during which "decades' worth of skepticism and resentment bubbled to the surface." Gervais stood by his borderline offensive, somewhat derogatory and sometimes just plain hilarious jokes.

We stand by the hope that maybe, just maybe, next year's Golden Globes, Ricky will reunite with his early 80s glampop band Seona Dancing.

And in case you haven't seen it, here's this year's terrific opening monologue.

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Though the Internet has known about this for a while, interest over Ricky Gervais' polarizing performance at the Golden Globes has stirred the skeletons in the closet. Nearly 30 years ago, a slimmer, prettier Gervais stole the hearts of millions as lead singer of Seona Dancing, a British New Wave group. (That's pronounced "shawna dahn-cing.") Along with Bill Macrae, Gervais started the band in his last year at the University College, London, and enjoyed a moderate amount of success. Seona Dancing topped the charts -- or rather showed up on the charts at No. 79 -- with their hit "Bitter Heart." The video pretty much sums up a lot about the '80s:

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The British comedian was brash, profane and cruelly funny at Sunday's Golden Globes, delivering his trademark humor as promised for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in his second go-round as host of the ceremony that has "butt-talking" appearances by Jim Carrey and Jack Nicholson in its history.

At its heart, pairing the right host with the right awards show is a delicate form of matchmaking. The relationship should be unpredictable but not self-destructive, capturing TV viewers and Nielsen ratings without alienating the stars who come to be celebrated.

More than a few brave hosts have discovered how daunting the brief affair can be. That includes David Letterman, who has yet to shed memories of his bumpy 1995 Oscar gig that included an oddball phonetics bit mocking the names of Uma Thurman and Oprah Winfrey.

"Ricky Gervais was the host of the (Globes) show -- very funny guy," Letterman said on his late-night CBS show Monday. "But there's already talk that he'll never be invited back, and I say, 'Hey, welcome to the club.'"

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First, gleeful needling has been that comic’s stock-in-trade for about two decades, and the awards show’s governing body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, hired Gervais to host the broadcast in 2010 as well. Unless you're a complete dunderhead, you don’t invite a scorpion into your tent without expecting him to sting you, especially after inviting him in exactly one year earlier and getting stung 23 times in the face.

Second, it’s not as though the Golden Globes ceremony had much dignity to lose. Stars attend  and viewers watch not in spite of the event's junior-prom after-party atmosphere, but because of it. On the Oscars and Emmy broadcasts, it’s a big deal when people go off-script, act like fools, or bite the hands that feed them. On the Globes telecast, we expect such behavior and feel disappointed if we don’t get oodles of it.

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Best Motion Picture (Drama)
"The Social Network"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"

Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
"The Kids Are Alright"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)
Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)
Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version"

Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
"Glee"

Best Director (Motion Picture)
David Fincher, "The Social Network"

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Robert De Niro

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"

Best Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"

Best Actress in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical)
Laura Linney, "The Big C"

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The honor was announced Tuesday by Kevin Spacey. The award will be presented to him at the 68th annual Golden Globes on Jan. 16.

De Niro has won eight Golden Globes Awards in both the comedy and drama categories. He's also won two Academy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honor.

Previous winners include Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Steven Spielberg and this past year's recipient, Martin Scorsese.

Ricky Gervais will return as the ceremony's host.

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A 42-year-man in Taiwan died of a stroke during a screening earlier this week. "It's likely that the over-excitement from watching the movie triggered his symptoms," his doctor said.

And in the truest test of cultural relevance, the New York Times just ran a "think" piece on the controversies surrounding "Avatar," rounding up a bunch of commentators and purported experts who projected their own dubious meanings into the film's success.

Now it's my turn.

Critic Manny Farber had it right, There are two kinds of movies: "White Elephants" and "Termite Art." One wins Oscars and rules at the box office. Critics and smarty-pants cineastes love the other.

What are we, then, to make of James Cameron?

Cameron is simultaneously a White Elephant filmmaker who makes huge, overstuffed popular fantasies and also, agonizingly, a Termite Artist. In the words of Farber, Termite Art "goes always forward eating its own boundaries, and, likely as not, leaves nothing in its path other than the signs of eager, industrious, unkempt activity."

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And why aren't any pundits (well, hardly any) bemoaning the fact that the year's most riveting and satisfying acting discovery, Catalina Saavedra of "The Maid," doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of being nominated for a best-actress Oscar? ("The Maid" is, ironically, nominated for a Golden Globe. It doesn't even qualify for the foreign-language Oscar. And the Golden Globes are less significant than the Oscars why, exactly?)

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