Maybe Samuel L. Jackson wasn't funny enough last year? Looks like the Indie Spirit Awards will bring back a laughmeister to host their awards gala, just as they did from 2001 to 2004 when John Waters presided.

This year's emcee has just been announced: comedienne Sarah Silverman will hold forth in the big tent on the beach in Santa Monica on March 4.

"I'm so happy to be hosting the Independent Spirit Awards!" she says. "My boyfriend told me to say that I have a very independent spirit."

Her one-woman show "Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic" recently became a feature film. Silverman has performed acting roles in such films as "The Aristocrats" and "There's Something About Mary."

The acid-tongued star started out as a writer for "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-1990s.
(Independent Spirits)