Jimmy Fallon to host 2017 Golden Globes

Jimmy Fallon, host of the The Tonight Show, is set to host the Golden Globe Awards for the first time. Photo / Getty Images

Comedian Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's The Tonight Show, will host the Golden Globes for the first time in January 2017.

Fallon, 41, follows acerbic British comedian Ricky Gervais who earlier this year hosted the Golden Globes for a fourth time.

The awards celebrate the best in film and television.

Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did the honours from 2013-2015.

Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on stage during the Golden Globe Awards.

The 2017 ceremony takes place on January 8 in Beverly Hills and will be broadcast live on NBC television, organisers the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said in a statement.

Fallon, a former cast member of TV sketch show Saturday Night Live, took over NBC's flagship late night talk show in 2014, injecting the format with games and stunts.

The Tonight Show is currently the most-watched of the US late night TV talk shows.

NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said Fallon was a great fit for the Golden Globes.

"This is the most spontaneous and uninhibited award show on television, and Jimmy's playful, disarming comedic brilliance makes him the ideal host to enhance and elevate the sense of fun and irreverence," Greenblatt said.

- AAP