Hosting awards shows is a truly thankless job.
Here are some things I saw while tuning in to last night’s Golden Globes that made me laugh harder than anything the ceremony’s host, the comedian Jo Koy, said on stage: this video of Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy looking lost on the red carpet; the moment The Bear star Ayo Edebiri remembered to acknowledge her “real family also” after thanking her castmates; this tweet.
Which is to say, well, Koy bombed. His opening monologue began poorly—“We all dreamt of this moment!” he declared enthusiastically to silent, apparent disagreement—and only got worse. Like any awards-show host, Koy shouted out individual nominees, but practically every joke failed to land, mostly because the punchlines were dated or obvious. He poked fun at eventual best-drama winner Oppenheimer’s three-hour runtime, claiming he’d finish watching the movie in 2025. For Barbie, which later won the new prize for cinematic and box-office achievement, he admitted he didn’t know what to expect from a movie about “a plastic doll with big boobies.” He made a quip about Meryl Streep winning all the time—who hasn’t?—and then, apropos of nothing, asked her to do the “Wakanda Forever” pose from Black Panther.
By the end of his set, Koy sounded indignant, seemingly picking up on how little the crowd was vibing with his comedy.
