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The HFPA Loved Ricky Gervais’s Globes Performance

In this handout photo provided by NBC, host Ricky Gervais.
In this handout photo provided by NBC, host Ricky Gervais onstage during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom on January 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo: Handout/NBC

The HFPA just loved Ricky Gervais’s performance as host of the Golden Globes, the organization’s president tells the Hollywood Reporter. “He was great. He was funny. And the good thing that happened this year is he let the stars in on the joke, so they responded. We liked him very, very much,” Aida Takla-O’Reilly says. For his part, Gervais is playing hard to get so far, but in this as with all elaborate, preening-based mating rituals, it’s hard to know what exactly will happen. Takla-O’Reilly says that inviting Gervais back for a fourth round is “really a possibility,” and that she appreciates aggressive humor. “We cannot muzzle the comedians because the comedian mirrors our flaws, mirrors the flaws of humanity,” she said. If Ricky Gervais is just holding up the mirror, we’re all in trouble.

The HFPA Loved Ricky Gervais’s Globes Performance