After so many years of tired bits—and a few outright train wrecks—on the Golden Globe stage, I’ve become fairly skeptical about the necessity of awards-show hosts in general (the notable exception being Amy and Tina).
So I was as shocked as anyone to find myself actually…enjoying Nikki Glaser’s monologue at the Globes on Sunday? The pressure was on for the comic to deliver a performance worthy of her viral roast of Tom Brady last spring, and while she got a few sharp jokes off targeting the likes of Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford, and Timothée Chalamet (“Timothée Chalamet, you have the most gorgeous eyelashes—on your upper lip. That is such a good look”), none of her barbs at people in the room felt over the line.
This was by design: As Glaser—the Globes’ very first solo female host—told The Run-Through With Vogue ahead of Sunday’s telecast, “I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable or feel like they were called out.” At an awards show like the Golden Globes, attendees did not sign up to be roasted. “I have to be a little bit more gentle,” she acknowledged.
This, of course, is not to say that every single joke Glaser made landed perfectly; one particular reference to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s horrific sex crimes did not go over well, to say the least. But the genuine enthusiasm that Glaser brought to the gig earned her a lot of goodwill: We’ve all become so accustomed to white dudes in expensive suits giving it about 30% that seeing a woman deliver a finely honed monologue, do a bunch of costume changes, and actually seem happy to be onstage genuinely refreshing. Glaser has been a working comedian for more than 20 years, and while nobody could argue that comedy is a strict meritocracy, it’s nice when someone who’s worked hard to be at the top of her game gets one of the biggest opportunities in Hollywood—and legitimately nails it.
