Fey and Poehler set to lighten the mood around the Globe

Tonight's Golden Globes will be hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, who say they'll be less aggressive than their predecessor Ricky Gervais

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Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are ready to crack each other up at tonight's Golden Globe Awards.

The two talents offered a taste of their quick-witted banter on a conference call with reporters last week, during which Fey promised: "We're going to sing the whole show."

Fey also joked that she would wear costumes from each of the nominated films. Poehler said she planned to catch a "blackout nap" before the ceremony.

Both women are also nominees for best actress in a television comedy for roles in the shows they write and produce. Fey is up for 30 Rock, while Poehler got the nod for Parks and Recreation.

Fey signalled that she and co-host Poehler will perhaps be less aggressive than the British comic Ricky Gervais, who hosted the awards for the past three years and took barbed, near-the-knuckle shots at the assembled A-listers.

"Our job is to keep the evening going and make it fun. Not necessarily to break comedic ground or take people down a peg," Fey said.

Among those eyeing major prizes at Tinseltown's biggest pre-Oscars awards show are Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino. Spielberg's Lincoln is the front-runner for Globe glory with seven nods, ahead of Affleck's Argo and Tarantino's Django Unchained, both of which have five nominations.

Other films that received Globe nods include Les Misérables, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty, which have four nominations each. Reflecting the perhaps less highbrow taste of the 100-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Ang Lee's Life of Pi, which picked up 11 Oscar nominations, is running in only three Globes categories.

The three-hour awarding ceremony is preceded by several hours of Hollywood's finest strutting their stuff on the first big red carpet of the season.