All bets are off for Gervais' second Golden Globes

If you thought Ricky Gervais could've pushed the envelope a bit more the last time he hosted the Golden Globes, he agrees.

"I don’t think I was too bad," Gervais told reporters last week about his first turn as Globes host. "I don’t think I went far enough."

Gervais will get another chance when he returns for his second and final year on the 68th annual awards show taking place January 16. (Nominations for the Globes will be announced on Tuesday.) "I’m going to have even more fun with it, probably go a bit further, push the boundaries a little bit more. I think you always should," the Brit comedian said. "What’s the worst that could happen? I didn’t expect to be invited back a second time and I certainly – and I won’t do it a third. So I’ve got nothing to lose. So, yes, I’m going to go for it."

"The Office" creator also weighed in on Steve Carell's final year on the U.S. version of the show. "There’s a lot of talk about who’s going to replace Steve Carell. You should never think like that. You shouldn’t think who’s replacing Steve Carell. It should be who's replacing Michael Scott," he said. "The replacement should be a credible replacement within the story, within the piece of work, not 'Is he going to be as big a star?'"

In all seriousness, Gervais talked fondly of Carell. "I always joke about him, I always tease him, I hope people know that I think he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met genuinely," he said. "There’s no one like him. He’s untouched by Hollywood. He’s untouched by his fame. He’s just a lovely family man who loves comedy and the work and he’s done an amazing job above and beyond the call of duty."

As for one of the hottest shows on TV, "Modern Family," being the latest program to be compared to "The Office," Gervais cited "This Is Spinal Tap" and "The Larry Sanders Show" as influences on that show.

"I didn't invent that genre. I stood on the shoulders of giants," he told CNN. "It’s nice that we’re even getting the credit for creating a recognizable style or genre. Someone said today that we reinvented the sitcom, and I’m very happy with that rumor going around."

Still, he shudders at some of the praise he's received. "I remember when 'The Office' came out one journalist said, 'This is as good as Chekhov.' And I thought, 'Oh, no. Well now we’re in real trouble,'" he said. "And sure enough the next year when the special went on television one journalist said, 'This is sub-Dickens.' I’m like, really? We’re not as good as Dickens. No, we’re not. They were surprised this sitcom isn’t as good as the greatest storyteller over the last 300 years. It’s like you can’t win."

Gervais also spoke about the special he recently taped about comedy where he had a conversation with Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Louis C.K. "We sat in a room for four and a half hours - and I’m just editing it down now to an hour - and we just talked about comedy," he said. "We talked about what we hate, what we love, how we approached it, our first bit we ever did, why we wanted to be comedian[s]."

The special will air on HBO, where his second stand-up special, "Ricky Gervais: Out of England 2" will premiere on Saturday night. "There’s also the sequel to ['The Ricky Gervais Show'] as well, which starts on the 14th of January," he said. "So yes, second Globes, second special and second ['Gervais Show' season] - I think I’m better the second time around."