To hear Ricky Gervais tell it, there's no damage control to be done.
The confident-in-his-ways comedian sat down with Piers Morgan tonight for another Golden Globes postmortem (plus some other stuff) and made a very good case for why everyone should just forget about the so-called daggers he threw at his fellow celebs while hosting Sunday's ceremony.
"I hope no one was truly offended. I never went out there to embarrass anyone in the room," he told his fellow Brit, the two of them trading ideas at a rapid-fire clip.
"They weren't the butt of my jokes," Gervais insisted. "It was more a general ribbing, or a roasting. I admire most of those people in the room and I've got nothing against Bruce Willis or Sly Stallone. I think they're great actors and I was never trying—I'm surprised anyone thought [the actors] were offended."
"I spoke to Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, they were cool with it," he said, referring to his long setup that started with a lengthy intro for Hanks, followed by "and the other one is Tim Allen."
So how does he explain Robert Downey Jr.'s impromptu critique of how the show was going?
Gervais says he knows Downey was just answering a joke with a joke.
"Of course he's joking, because I've met him and he's got a great sense of humor," he insisted to Morgan. Sure, that was before the show started, he said, but "I'm guessing that he's not bothered by anything I say.
"Why would he be? He's Robert Downey Jr.! He's the coolest man in the world! Why would he care?"
A valid point.
Morgan also inquired about Gervais' closing comment, when he thanked God for making him an atheist, pointing out that "many Americans may find that offensive."
"I'm not mocking them," Gervais said. "People's beliefs aren't my concern at all. I certainly don't differentiate between religions either. I look at all religions the same. Unlike religious people, I look at all religions equally."
"I'm not a Christian, but I live my life in a good way," he added. "I'm good to people because it's the way I want to be treated. And I don't believe I'll be rewarded in heaven, but I do believe I'll be rewarded now."
Calling himself a "Darwinist" about comedy, Gervais said, "You do your own thing and you see if you survive…If you start second-guessing and you try to find people that are like you, or change it to make certain people like you, you're finished—and you're finished as a comedian more than any other thing in the world…I don't care what you think of me, I care that I've done a good job."
He said that everyone's entitled to their opinion, but there's just "so much misinformation out there," much of it perpetuated these days by Twitter, which he compared to "evolution among bacteria." For instance, the rumor that Gervais was booted midway through the Globes went from amoeba to fully fledged animal via Twitter.
Some information out there that's true, however, is the story that Gervais will be appearing on The Office, on which he's listed as an executive producer. He'll be reprising his role as the original self-proclaimed "World's Best Boss," David Brent.
"It is true, but it was meant to be a secret!" he protested. But he sounded happy that the Internet got it right this time.