Photo by Paul Drinkwater, AP2011
Ricky Gervais, shown during last year's Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., returns as the awards show's host Sunday night.
PASADENA, Calif. — Comic Ricky Gervais is undaunted about this year's Golden Globes, of which he is host (8 p.m. Sunday, NBC).
Though the last time he headlined the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's ceremony he was blasted for his barbs toward celebrities and critics, Gervais was asked to come back and do it again.
"I end my career once a week," Gervais said Friday. "That's my extreme sport."
With the new series he is producing and in which he appears on HBO, "Life's Too Short," Gervais explores familiar territory: celebrity. "Life" stars Warwick Davis as himself, a down-on-his-luck little person trying to climb the show business career ladder. Gervais plays himself as Davis' friend and work mentor.
Whether it's the Golden Globes or "Life," Gervais sees a shamelessness about it all.
"There's no difference now, literally, between fame and infamy," he said. "There's no shame in anything."
"Life" premieres Sunday, Feb. 19.
In other developments from HBO:
+ Elected. Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns to series television with the comedy "Veep." She plays Vice President Selina Meyer, whose life is chaos in and out of the office.
As a former senator who now is in the second spot for the White House, she discovers the job isn't quite what she thought. Meyer has an incompetent staff and is always sticking her foot in her mouth.
Part of the fun of the series is, as vice president, "your identity is at the whim of the president," said creator Armando Lannucci.
Louis-Dreyfus, who interviewed a couple of former vice presidents for the role, wants to play on that.
"I don't think there is a politician out there who aspires to be vice president," she said.
The show, she pointed out, is not a spoof of female politicians such as Sarah Palin.
"Veep" is very funny — perhaps the best Louis-Dreyfus has done since "Seinfeld.
The half-hour program debuts in April.
+ Elected 2. To play Sarah Palin in the upcoming HBO film "Game Change," actress Julianne Moore wanted to be respectful of the former vice presidential candidate.
"I have a profound respect for her," Moore said of Palin after doing hours of research on the former Alaskan governor.
Among the research she did: Moore read "Game Change" the book, Palin's book and even watched the reality "Sarah Palin's Alaska," which chronicled her life after the election.
Moore also said she hired a vocal coach to get Palin's voice mannerisms down pat. Moore said it was a "daunting" task to take on a role of someone who is still living and was in the political spotlight only four years ago.
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