Russell Brand to Host 2012 MTV Movie Awards

Russell Brand will host this year's MTV Movie Awards, the network announced Thursday.

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The ceremony is to air live on June 3 from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., at 9 p.m. ET. This will mark Brand's first time hosting MTV's ode to the movies; the British actor-comedian previously emceed the Video Music Awards, which caps the end of the summer, in 2008 and 2009.

"With his amazing ability to span the full spectrum of comedy from the most high to lowbrow, Russell’s smart, unpredictable wit uniquely connects him to our audience," MTV president Stephen Friedman said in a statement. "His rock-n-roll sensibility and fearlessness give us the perfect partner with whom to take a leap of faith with as we meld the worlds of movies and music together on one very special night.”

Previous Movie Awards hosts include Jason Sudeikis, Aziz Ansari, Andy Samberg, Ben Stiller, Jimmy Falllon, Justin Timberlake and Sarah Silverman.

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Known for his bracing wit and off-the-cuff humor, Brand is the Ricky Gervais of MTV. The ex-Mr. Katy Perry made headlines at the VMAs for his digs at the Jonas Brothers' purity rings, among other jabs. His memorable movie roles include Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, and he will soon be seen in Universal's Rock of Ages, slated for release June 15 and co-starring Tom Cruise.

The 2012 MTV Movie Award nominees include such films as The Hunger Games, The Help and Bridesmaids.

MTV this year is rebooting the Movie Awards by enlisting an "academy" of industry professionals including actors, movies, producers and agents, to choose the nominees. A similary strategy employed by the VMAS, the academy is designed to broaden the nominees and winners and lend some credibility to an event that has been criticized as merely a venue for Hollywood to promote its summer movies.