For those who don’t know, the Golden Globes are the awards given to the outstanding movies and shows released each year. The awards ceremony draws in millions of viewers annually, this year ranking at 9.4 million according to The New York Times. Normally at award shows like the Golden Globes, Emmys, The Oscars, and others, comedians are asked to host. However, it doesn’t seem like comedians really make people laugh anymore.
Jo Koy was asked to host the 2024 Golden Globes this year, and in his 10-minute opening monologue, the person who seemed to be laughing most at his jokes was Jo himself.
He started off his monologue poking fun at his mother’s love for Meryl Streep and talking about how he binged all the nominated films and shows before the big night. He then started to introduce the blockbuster films of the summer by announcing how both “Oppenheimer and Barbie [are] competing for cinematic box office achievements.” However, he fell off very shortly after while comparing the two movies, since, according to him, Oppenheimer was “based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie [was] on a plastic doll….” The audience was less than amused by this joke—and it showed. Director Greta Gerwig was zoomed in on after the “joke” was cracked, and her look of disappointment was felt across the room and across the screens of the viewers at home, myself included. Koy didn’t seem to understand that the silence in the room was because his comments weren’t funny, so he continued, “The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!”
After laughing at himself, stating that he only wrote some of the jokes being presented and calling out Robert De Niro, he attempted to save himself. “Yo, I got the gig ten days ago. You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up!” was what briefly followed.
Now to answer his question, I’ll say this: no, no one expects a “perfect monologue” because there is no such thing. Not everyone is going to find the same jokes funny, and not everyone is going to find the same comedian funny. However, a respectful and funny monologue is expected, and he was neither. The most ironic part about these “jokes” was that they were proving the whole message of the Barbie movie before the eyes of every viewer. The movie dives into patriarchy, toxic masculinity, toxic femininity, the unattainable standards (beauty and emotional) that men, women, and in general, humans are supposed to live up to every day, as well as so many more topics that were truly groundbreaking and heartfelt to see on screen. It was very ironic that the Golden Globes chose a rather sexist comedian to talk about the movie that talks about sexism. It was very ironic that the host was mocking a record-breaking movie just because it was based on a doll.
Movies such as Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon weren’t the only things getting made fun of by Koy—Taylor Swift was too. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL. [At the] Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” laughed Koy. The camera subsequently panned to the rather quiet audience, focusing on Swift as she sipped her drink quietly, unamused.
Now, not everyone is going to find the same joke funny. Not everyone is going to love the same host. However, a precedent of being a respectful and funny host should be set at award shows like these. Koy’s jokes were disrespectful to the writers, directors, and actors of these movies and shows in more ways than one. It was very pleasing to see that the audience didn’t feel like they had to laugh with him and that some members just kept a straight face while the cameras panned to them. The sexist, rude, and disrespectful “jokes” that are laughed at in this day and age are truly disappointing and need to stop. Not laughing is the best way to end this cycle, and this response shown on national television just a few weeks ago is a perfect way to start the end of this pattern.
