The Golden Globes kicked off the awards season on Jan. 7 and lit up the screens of 9.4 million viewers. However, this event will not likely be remembered by its heightened wave of viewership after a slumpy few years or the new diverse wins, but instead for sloppy targeted jokes and the poorly prepared host.
The Golden Globes had a new host in town as Jo Koy hosted the 81st ceremony with only a 10-day notice. His opening monologue did not get dazzling reviews; in fact, many found the jokes in his monologue to be crude and invasive. In an interview with GMA3 on the Monday following the award show, Koy responded to his criticism by stating, “It’s a tough room and it was a hard job. I’m not gonna lie. Getting that gig and then having the amount of time that we had to prepare was a crash course.”
I am not going to sit here and say that I am a professional comedian such as Koy. However, as someone who has been writing comedy scripts for Asbury’s very own sketch show, “Friday Night Live,” for three semesters and being the head writer for two, I can empathize with the intensity of having to scramble to find jokes with a tight deadline and even on the spot. With that being said, there is a fine line between being funny and downright insulting. You would think a professional such as Koy would understand this.
Koy’s monologue jumps off with him stating that he made sure to watch each and every film nominated to prepare for the Golden Globes. As his monologue dragged on, the room seemed to feel more suffocated and stressed, especially when he made a joke that stirred the pot, stating, “Oppenheimer and Barbie are competing for cinematic box office achievements” He continued, “Oppenheimer is based off a 700 page Pultzer prize winning book about the Manhattan project and Barbie is about big boobies.”
Greta Gerwig, director and screenwriter of the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement winner, “Barbie,” addressed Koy’s jabs on BBC Radio 4 with a surprising view. She said, “Well, he’s not wrong. She’s the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on. And you know, I think that so much of the project of the movie was unlikely because it is about a plastic doll. Barbie by her very construction has no character, no story, she’s there to be projected upon.” There was no depth to the original Barbie’s character or reason for her being the perfect representative of the female experience. In fact, many of us in our younger years would’ve likely disregarded her as a realistic portrayal of what it means and looks like to be a woman – I know I did. Yet that is why Koy’s joke did not work; because the movie was not specifically about Barbie. The movie was about the soul-aching experience of realizing who you are should not be based on what everyone else thinks you should be. Whether you are a woman or not.
I will say, I do think Koy did a better job than we give him credit for. Standing up in front of some of the biggest A-listers of all time is not an easy task, especially when you have to make everyone laugh. But his desperate whines about the lack of laughter or the scrunched up faces from the cringing audience only made things worse. At one point, Koy yelled out, “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Shut up.” Here’s a lesson about performing a live comedy-set folks: Don’t get mad at your audience. But that wasn’t his biggest mistake of the night. After numerous failed jokes, Koy did not hesitate to throw his writer’s down to try and save face. He stated, “Slow down. I wrote some of these and they’re the ones you’re laughing at,” and “Like I said, I didn’t write all these, that one was not mine.” Koy in a later interview with the Los Angeles Times apologized and said, “I love my writers. I love all three of them and I shouted them out. And I told them like that was a moment right there where I’m just grasping… They were amazing, they had my back and I need to make sure I fix that and I will, I always will.” We all say things we later regret. But your team is your team and it was disappointing to watch a leader strike down their people like that, even though his apology did feel sincere.
Whether you thought this was the most amazing ceremony in Golden Globe history or that it was just an overloaded dumpster fire, we have to acknowledge the courage it took to host the show, especially given the circumstances, so props to Jo Koy for stepping up to the plate! Moving forward, fans and avid movie-goers await the next iconic awards ceremony, The Oscars, coming in March.