Light relief from the Globes

That meant that, last year, while Heath Ledger, David Strathairn and Philip Seymour Hoffman battled it out in the drama category, the comedy or musical category could honour Nathan Lane in The Producers, Johnny Depp in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Pierce Brosnan in The Matador, all accomplished comic performances which hardly stood a chance at the Oscars.

The heavy-hitters in this year’s category will no doubt also be Oscar players, like Dreamgirls, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine and Stranger Than Fiction.

But there are a host of broad comic turns which could end up getting shortlisted, not least of which is Sacha Baron Cohen, who would no doubt cause a stir at the show itself were he to be nominated and attend in the guise of his Kazakh alter ego Borat.

Baron Cohen, who conducted a press conference with the HFPA in full Borat character, is more likely to be recognised for his bravura work than some of the other comic giants today - Adam Sandler in Click, Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby and Jack Black in both Nacho Libre and Tenacious DIn The Pick Of Destiny.

Ferrell also has a shot in the actor category for Stranger Than Fiction. Comic veterans like Steve Martin in The Pink Panther and Robin Williams in Man Of The Year are possibilities.

Two end-of-year comedies could easily find favour in this category - Night At The Museum which features Ben Stiller as a hapless museum guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York who accidentally triggers an ancient jinx which brings to life the bugs and animals on display, and Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday which sees Cameron Diaz as an American woman with man trouble trading places with an English woman (Kate Winslet) with the same dilemma. Jude Law and Jack Black co-star.

Watch out for Globe favourite Scarlett Johansson who could be nominated in the comedy/musical category for Scoop and Russell Crowe, another perennial nominee for his stab at comedy in A Good Year.

And in the best musical or comedy category, Jason Reitman’s Thank You For Smoking stands a good chance of making the grade despite its early release date in March.