When are we going to get over the idea that hosting a huge awards ceremony is a great gig for a comedian and – an even crazier notion – an easy one? The response to Golden Globes host Jo Koy is both surprising and not surprising. “Maybe the Golden Globes … don’t need a host, actually?” Rude. “Jo Koy bombs.” Mean. And the real kicker: “Taylor Swift unimpressed.”
Why surprising? Because surely no one seriously imagines that a phalanx of Hollywood superstars in Spanx and borrowed Cartier jewellery makes for a relaxed and up-for-it crowd. It should be more of a story when awards hosts make a room rock with belly laughs, especially when the room in question is full of celebrities who are notoriously humourless and would probably never go to a standup gig in real life.
But the reaction is also not remotely surprising. Because everyone loves it when a comedian bombs. It activates some kind of primordial schadenfreude gene. As a comedian, your job on stage can go one of two ways: you make people forget how awful life is by making them laugh, or you make them remember how great their life is because they are not living yours and they are not you, dying on stage. Either way, it’s an important public service.
After the event, it’s pointless trying to contend that the material was actually not that bad (which it wasn’t), or that Koy’s delivery had its moments of charm and professionalism (which it did). Because comedy eludes analysis, justification or explanation: it’s either funny in the moment or it’s not. And there’s no arguing with tumbleweed, or its deadly celeb equivalent: Taylor Swift on camera, taking the tiniest of dainty sips of her drink.
A lot of comedy is about context and establishing who you are in relation to the audience. So in some ways Koy’s stint is more impressive than recent Golden Globes bookings, because his work would not have been especially familiar to a lot of the audience in the room or at home. This is why high-status performers like Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Kimmel or Chris Rock have a natural “buy-in” when they walk on stage: there’s a ready-made expectation of where they will take things.
You can work with that and you can subvert it. Gervais has often played these hosting gigs almost with the express intention of explicitly eliciting gasps of horror or intakes of breath rather than cosy laughs – and it works because you know he intended it.
In Koy’s defence, while the hunt for a host was on, a celebrity publicist told CNN: “It’s a thankless job.” Several A-list comedians (including reportedly Chris Rock and Ali Wong) turned down the role. Even Amy Poehler and Tina Fey – possibly the most popular hosting duo of all time – have reportedly said they will never do the Golden Globes again.
To be fair to him, it’s not unreasonable that Koy tried to make jokes about both Barry Keoghan’s penis and Oppenheimer being somewhat lengthy. They are. But he made the cardinal error of narrating the resulting awkward silence: “I got the gig 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue?” It never works if you’re in effect appealing to the audience to give you a break. They didn’t come here to give you a break. They came to laugh. And now you’re saying they’re asking too much? Once you’ve voiced that thought, expect to keep digging.
Ultimately, comedy is dangerously subjective and that is why it’s so enjoyable. Joan Rivers was fond of saying that a comedian only needs to get 2% of the population to like them and they can fill a stadium for the rest of their life. With numerous standup specials on Comedy Central and Netflix, Koy already has more than his 2%. The Golden Globes, win or lose, is just a rite of passage for comedians at the highest reaches of fame. In any case, all comedy should rightfully be, to borrow the motto of the legendary London comedy night The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, “a noble failure”. (The audience shouts this at each act as they leave the stage, regardless of their fate.)
Finally, you have to think about the brief. This was not about creating a piece of comedy for the ages. It was about getting the Golden Globes back on track after an era of controversy over racism and corruption. The LA Times reported: “The broadcast was watchable … without being interesting.” Not what you’d want on your next tour poster. But maybe exactly the kind of review the organisers ordered.
Viv Groskop is a comedian and author of Happy High Status: How to Be Effortlessly Confident (Torva)
