The former 'Saturday Night Live' co-stars - who are close friends - have been chosen to take charge of proceedings at the awards which will take place on January 13, NBC announced on Monday.

Controversial comedian Ricky Gervais hosted in 2010, 2011 and 2012 but insisted he would not return for a fourth stint and had instructed his agent not to let him present the ceremony again because he doesn't enjoy the prestigious hosting role until the evening is over.

Writing on his official blog after the 2012 ceremony, Ricky - who came under fire after insulting several celebrities in the audience while hosting the spectacle in 2011 - said: "Thank f**k that's over. I had a blast actually. It was by far my favorite of the three hosting stints.

"I've told my agent to never let me be persuaded to do it again though. It's like a parachute jump. You can only really enjoy it in retrospect when you realize you didn't die and it was quite an amazing thing to do."

The latest awards saw him joke about Jodie Foster's sexuality and poke fun at Justin Bieber's paternity scandal - but he thinks the audience understood his crude comedy a lot more this time around.

He wrote: "The crowd were great this year too. I think they finally worked out that my gags only seemed rude and nasty but were actually not too scary at all.

"Or they were just drunker. Either way, it was fun but I'm glad to say I'm off to New York to chill out a bit."