The 81st Golden Globe Awards got off to a rocky start with host Jo Koy, who was quick to point out that he got the gig 10 days ago and deserved some credit from the audience.
Koy’s opening monologue followed the usual structure, making its way through a list of films, shows, and individual nominees, while notably staying away from the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Koy allowed himself to geek out as a fan over celebrities like Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, both of whom were good sports (Streep even indulged in a “Wakanda Forever”).
In response to mixed reactions for some of his jokes as the crowd warmed up, Koy quipped “I got the gig ten days ago, you want a perfect monologue? I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
Koy was announced as Golden Globes host on December 21, 2023, and joked that he spent New Year’s watching “Oppenheimer” in a separate room while his family cheered and welcomed 2024. This is the standup comedian’s first time hosting a major awards show.
He also picked Barry Keoghan out of the audience to ask the “Saltburn” actor where his penis was seated, and then to connect that to Bradley Cooper in “Maestro.” A joke about how white people stole everything, including the “Killers of the Flower Moon” premise, didn’t quite land in a room that Koy pointed out is “really white.”
Koy didn’t spend as much time on TV, but praised “Succession” for being about “a dysfunctional rich white family, all scheming — oh wait, that’s ‘The Crown.’”
The 81st Golden Globe Awards were held Sunday, January 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Dick Clark Productions, which owns and produces the Golden Globes, is a Penske Media company (PMC is also IndieWire’s parent company). This marks the first year that the Globes have occurred since the formal dissolution of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which was criticized and investigated for unethical conduct in 2021. Koy was announced as Golden Globes host on December 21, 2023, after several others declined.
