Everyone was wondering if Nikki Glaser, hosting the Golden Globes Awards for the first time, could recreate her standout turn on the Comedy Central roast of Tom Brady from the previous year. She did not disappoint. Having spent numerous nights trying out her material and jokes at stand-up gigs before the show, Glaser’s preparation clearly bore fruit.
The contrast between her performance and Jo Koy’s less-than-stellar run as host the preceding year was stark. Nikki Glaser trod the delicate line between light-hearted mockery and homage with finesse. She set the tone at the beginning of the evening by saying, ‘Many may recognize me from my work in stand-up or participation in comedy roasts, but my aim tonight is not to roast you.’
She then followed up with, ‘After all, how could I? Given your levels of fame, talent, and influence, you can pretty much do anything – except convincing the nation who they should be voting for.’ She then swiftly launched into a series of sharp-witted, on-point jokes.
Her takes on the nominated television programs were clever, suggesting ‘The Bear, The Penguin, Baby Reindeer are not just the contents of RFK Jr.’s freezer.’ Similarly, she cleverly poked fun at the nominated movies by saying, ‘Wicked, Queer, Nightbitch are not just exclamations of Ben Affleck when he gets a little too excited.’
She made light of streaming services, dryly saying, ‘If you’re watching this on CBS, greetings. And for those of you on Paramount Plus, remember, you only have six days left to cancel your no-cost trial.’ Her observations were as sly as they were hilarious.
Her welcoming words for the attendees showed a great sense of comedy timing. ‘Denzel Washington is here for Gladiators 2, Cynthia Erivo for Wicked. Martin Short? Just because we have cameras around.’ This particular joke seemed to amuse Steve Martin the most, as evidenced by his response.
Glaser reserved special praise for Zendaya’s performance in Dune, adding, ‘I woke up specifically to witness your scenes.’ She did not hesitate to gush over the movie ‘Challengers’ either, commenting, ‘Wow, what a charged film. More intense than Diddy’s credit card statement.’
Timothée Chalamet also received mention with an emphasis on his moustache, or ‘upper lip eyelashes,’ as Glaser humorously dubbed them. ‘The performances you gave in A Complete Unknown as Bob Dylan were so spot on that even Mr. Dylan himself conceded it was quite terrible.’ This joke smoothly segued into a fun interaction with Adam Sandler, where Glaser pronounced Chalamet’s name in Sandler’s peculiar comic tone.
She went on to heap praise on the film Wicked. ‘Everybody seemed to adore Wicked. I absolutely loved Wicked. So did my boyfriend. And his boyfriend was quite taken with Wicked as well.’
She didn’t forget about Glen Powell, saying, ‘What an incredible year you’ve had. Glen, you simply were everywhere. Twisters, Hitman, honest to goodness, even my dreams.’
Nicole Kidman received acknowledgement too, with a playful jab, ‘Your contributions to cinema are incredible. And a special thanks to Keith Urban for diligently plucking the strings of his guitar at home, hence propelling Nicole to work extensively outside.’
She concluded with an assertion, ‘This evening, in all likelihood, is going to be remembered, perhaps not for reasons we might anticipate. I imagine in the future, you’ll come across snippets of this show on YouTube, spot someone in the crowd, and say… wow, that was prior to they apprehended him. …Or her. Albeit, historically, it’s always been ‘him.’ But, hey, it could be a ‘her,’ but it just…never is. Kind of like Best Director.’