Why Glaser’s success as host may be the best and most troubling thing about Sunday’s ceremony.
Yes, the Golden Globes may have given life to the awards quest by a few important films, especially Emilia Perez and The Brutalist. But I think Sunday’s Globes may be better remembered for the ascension of its host, sexy, scrappy comic Nikki Glaser.
As has been noted before — I spoke to Jimmy Kimmel about this not long ago — hosting awards shows is a surprisingly difficult and underappreciated talent. Especially awards shows in Hollywood, where the host is expected to poke fun at big stars, but in a way that reinforces the collective spirit of the place and doesn’t feel like an outsider on the attack.
Who knew the star from Netflix’s Tom Brady roast would navigate that balancing act so well?
In truth, it seems obvious how ambitious and driven Glaser has been in recent years, charting a course which has slowly built her reputation as a standup comic with chops bolstered by a supermodel’s beauty and a facility with raunchy humor that undercuts all the glamour.
Glaser cracks brutal jokes on Hollywood’s double standards of beauty for women even as she caters to them, performing her Golden Globe-nominated standup special in the shortest of skirts and hosting the ceremony in a dazzling parade of sexy, glamorous gowns.
And her monologue – which included getting Adam Sandler to join in with her on joking about how he might say Timothy Chalamet’s last name – was a masterclass in edging up to the line of satirizing Hollywood’s biggest names, while always making sure they felt in on the joke.
The Globes used to be heralded as Hollywood’s wildest party – a place where big names would drink too much, act out and provide a slightly less-filtered look at the industry’s breathless cycle of awards shows. Certainly, hearing that the show had drafted the woman who joked on Netflix about Tom Brady’s wife taking up with her jujitsu instructor, hinted there might be some rebellious fun in store for the night.
But Glaser knew this show was a chance to show she could work in any room in any situation – getting a room filled mostly with stars who will not win awards to laugh along in an event broadcast on the most traditional TV network in the business, CBS.
So Glaser gets the career boost which comes from nailing one of the toughest jobs in showbiz, and the Globes get to move one step further towards getting Hollywood to forget their past controversies with a mostly conventional awards show honoring predictably deserving projects in a way that won’t ruffle too many feathers.
Says a lot about the tenuous state of today’s entertainment industry that an outcome like that, nevertheless feels like a massive win.