(CNN) Ricky Gervais is a talented, funny guy. But if you sense a whiff of desperation about having him emcee the Golden Globes again -- on the order of "Forget the awards, tune in to see what outrageous things the host might say" -- NBC's promos, promising "We have no idea what he's going to do," sort of gave the game away.

Declining ratings for award shows have prompted various responses, including the Oscars' much-discussed but ultimately rather successful host-free format last year. Kicking off the latest flurry of back-patting leading up to that crowning event, the Globes -- which air Sunday -- have chosen to stick with a host, while trying to foster a sense of danger around Gervais, in an encore to his four prior appearances from 2010-12 and again in 2016.

Lest anyone have forgotten -- and clearly, NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the small group of roughly 90 journalists that selects the awards, are hoping people haven't -- Gervais' past routines demonstrated that Hollywood doesn't always have much sense of humor when the jokes come at its expense. Playing a bit like a cross between Don Rickles and Jimmy Kimmel's "mean tweets," his comedy targeted, among others, Mel Gibson, Caitlyn Jenner (or more specifically, her driving after a fatal car accident), Tim Allen, and the cast of "Sex and the City," among others.

The main rap on Gervais was that some of the material sounded "mean-spirited," as Robert Downey Jr. described it after his introduction -- which cited the actor's history of substance abuse -- in 2011.

In the intervening years, Gervais has only honed his reputation as a comedic provocateur. When criticized for his material, he has returned to the argument that comedy can't be safe or designate areas as completely off-limits.

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