Last year’s Golden Globes telecast provided its strongest case yet for its retirement from public life. The previous version of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association imploded after having the open secret of its corruption exposed. NBC, its longtime broadcast partner, dumped it.
Even after Dick Clark Productions (owned by Penske Media Corporation, which also owns every major Hollywood trade publication) and Eldridge Industries, a private equity firm, snatched its cadaver from the side of a Hollywood freeway and CBS agreed to air its production, no entertainer of note wanted to get its lingering stink on them. They had to make do with Jo Koy, who had mere days to prepare and bombed spectacularly.
The Globes certainly took its sweet time in tapping a woman to host solo.
For reasons having absolutely nothing to do with Koy – “Barbenheimer,” mainly — the 81st Golden Globes garnered the telecast’s highest ratings in four years, guaranteeing the show would go on. But Koy’s faceplant made a person wonder if the Globes requires any human shepherds. Its ceremony went host-free for its first 38 years, as well as between 1996 and 2009.
On Sunday, Nikki Glaser proved all that it needed was the right one, and to give that person time to prepare her material.
The Globes certainly took its sweet time in tapping a woman to host solo. That’s right: Glaser is the first, and it took 82 Globes telecasts for that to happen. She’s a seasoned TV host, having helmed “Not Safe with Nikki Glaser” on Comedy Central and playing the ringmaster on “FBoy Island.”
Another claim to fame of Glaser's is talking frankly about sex and pornography – she's a big fan of both. “I am absolutely thrilled to be your host tonight,” she said in her opener, “And I gotta say, this feels like I finally made it. You know? I’m in a room full of producers at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and this time all of my clothes are on. That was worth it!”
For years, the Golden Globes telecast spiked its reputation as the awards season’s most freewheeling, booze-fueled broadcasts by employing Ricky Gervais, who pushed the boundaries of good taste.
Gervais’ increasing coarseness was interrupted by the one-two punch of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler playing the part of everybody’s funny friend in the room. Gervais reveled at making Globe attendees angry; Fey and Poehler would take a few clawless swipes but generally left the impression that they were laughing with them.
Maybe Glaser studied those approaches. Maybe she naturally understands that nobody wants to walk away from this self-congratulation fest with a bitter taste in their mouths. However she prepared, the comedian found a way to plant her flag in the middle of the Globes’ rowdiness scale. The extent to which Glaser slayed her part cannot be overstated. She was spicy without immolating her targets, respectful without feeling phony or fawning. We will remember her for the right reasons and some saucy jokes.
Mind you, Glaser still knew when and how to dance on the edge. After acknowledging the truth about what the Globes mean to the industry by joking, “Tonight, we celebrate the best film and hold space for television,” Glaser launched her first rocket into the blue.
“’Wicked,’ ‘Queer,’ ‘Nightbitch’: These are not just words Ben Affleck yells after he orgasms. These are some of the incredible movies nominated tonight,” she joked, then continued with: “’The Bear,’ ‘The Penguin,’ ‘Baby Reindeer’: These are not just things found in R.F.K.’s freezer. These are TV shows nominated tonight.”
For the most part, Glaser kept her promise not to roast anybody, merely delivering the equivalent of a light blowtorch caramelizing to seasoned pros like Harrison Ford and Stanley Tucci, who gamely grinned when Glaser ventured to pull off a Diddy crack.
In reaction to the audience groaning at a line about “Challengers” being more sexually charged than one of the disgraced hip-hop producer’s credit cards, she said, “I’m upset too! The afterparty’s not going to be as good this year. But we have to move on! A ‘Stanley Tucci Freak-Off’ doesn’t have the same ring to it. No baby oil this year, just lots of olive oil.”
Other than that, and an extended riff on Timothée Chalamet’s confusingly sparse mustache (“You have the most gorgeous eyelashes on your upper lip,” she said) Glaser’s contributions added to the production instead of distracting from it. Not all her punchlines landed solidly, but none turned off the audience in the room or viewers watching at home.
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And if you’ve watched enough award shows over the years, you might recognize the chances she took with her version of bits other hosts attempted before only to die onstage. Way back in ancient times, Oscar host David Letterman tried to wring yuks from saying Uma Thurman’s name and Oprah Winfrey’s over and over again and was met by silence; Glaser imitated Adam Sandler saying Chalamet’s name, then got Sandler himself to say it, and it was dumb. But we laughed. Sorta.
Glaser knows awards shows gags are insipid. She lowkey acknowledged what indulgent duds musical performances can be when she donned a miter, threatening to mash up “Conclave” and “Wicked” by singing, “You’re gonna be . . . Pope-ular” before pretending to get the hook from the production booth.
“Wait, this sucks?”. . .This whole thing sucks?” she says in her pretend earpiece. “I’m embarrassing myself in front of Elton John? OK, let’s skip to the next song, the TV one about ‘The Penguin,’ the ‘Insane in the Pen-gwain’? . . . That sucks too?”
Stupid live skits being a terrible idea seems obvious to everybody in 2025, but in case you’ve forgotten, a past Emmys ceremony featured the man who is now our President-elect (again) and a felon (34 times) singing the theme to “Green Acres” beside Megan Mullally.
A host can only work so much magic to make an awards show watchable, but Sunday’s 82nd Golden Globes telecast was a rare case of the production matching the talent’s enthusiasm and caliber. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss returned as the show’s executive producers and showrunners, with Weiss directing. That might have been a terrible decision given last year’s disaster but, miracle of miracles, Kirshner and Weiss turned those mistakes into a lesson.
Not across the board, of course — the presenters’ scripts were still stodgy, but when aren’t they? Besides, with teleprompter mishaps ruling the night and pros like Jennifer Coolidge going magnificently AWOL when we need them to, punch-ups are a waste of energy and time.
Instead, the attention-getters were the technological bells and whistles. This year’s Globes evolved to meet the age of streaming and online dominance by incorporating Maps-style location icons to show where a nominee was placed in the room and Pop-Up Video-style windows containing trivia about each presenter and winner.
This linked nicely to Glaser’s mid-show scorecard featuring a tally of the most thanked. Cast and crew led with 11 mentions, she announced, with moms coming in second with three, and “God, creator of the universe” netting a goose egg – one less than Mario Lopez, host of "Access Hollywood," with one. But, indeed, it’s funny because it’s true and was at times touching as when Colin Farrell used his acceptance speech for his best actor in a limited series win for “The Penguin” to thank Carolina in craft service.
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Past awards shows included banners listing an actor’s past wins and nominations, but this also included details like a nominee’s first job or, for example, that the Vancouver Aquarium named an octopus after Canadian hero Seth Rogen. This may be an effort to mitigate the audience’s urge to divide attention between second screens or to capitalize on the mainstreaming of closed captioning in streaming content.
In any case, depending on what type of information consumer you are, these trivia boxes coupled with the announcers’ “did you know” offerings were either a bounteous accessory or an overload. It was nice to find out from Coolidge that Billy Bob Thornton has an emotional support coyote (which is . . . probably not true?) and that asteroid 17744 was named after Jodie Foster (which, can confirm, is true).
In the wake of Sunday’s success, the Golden Globes telecast isn’t likely to struggle with finding a host. But it could do a lot worse than inviting Glaser back for another round.
Fascinating as some of these fun facts were, the wins on the TV side were mostly predictable and, as Glaser remarked, are there to “hold space” – they have none of the impact on Emmys that the Globes have on the Oscars.
That “Shogun” and “Hacks” won the top drama and comedy series prizes were foregone conclusions, as were “Shogun” stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai’s best drama actor and actress wins, and “Hack” star Jean Smart and “The Bear” lead Jeremy Allen White’s win for best comedy actress and actor. All have won Emmys for their roles, and this is White’s third Globe win for “The Bear,” accepted this time in absentia.
But these were fine wins even so, as were the hardware scores for limited series winner “Baby Reindeer” and Jessica Gunning for limited series supporting actress, as well as Jodie Foster’s deserved notice for her turn in “True Detective: Night Country,” matching her Emmy win for the role. The Globes had a few surprises within their favored contenders too, like Tadanobu Asano's supporting actor clinch for “Shogun.”
That said, if the Globes had been Globes-ing like before, the biggest movie stars in the best stand-up performance category would have won. Somehow Ali Wong bested Jamie Foxx and Adam Sandler – and Glaser, who also received a nod — to claim the prize.
That was one more sparkle in a drink that washed away the garbage flavor of last year’s awards – a Corpse Reviver, let’s call it. In the wake of Sunday’s success, the Golden Globes telecast isn’t likely to struggle with finding a host. But it could do a lot worse than inviting Glaser back for another round. She’s a sure thing.
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