Last year, the 2023 Golden Globes opened with a blunt and honest monologue from Jerrod Carmichael, who began the award show by openly discussing the controversy surrounding the organization that had hired him and his decision to host the show. It was an impressive and bold moment from the comedian that was presented as live television. Tonight, approximately one year later, comedian Jo Koy decided to open the 2024 Golden Globes with a totally different tactic, and it did not work out for him at all.
Instead of doing something new and different like his predecessor, Koy opted to begin his Golden Globes hosting duties this evening with plastic enthusiasm and traditional jokes, and the response was rough. As he made bad jokes about Oppenheimer's runtime, "plastic boobies" in Barbie, and Barry Keoghan's penis in Saltburn, the audience at the Beverly Hilton provided him with only courteous laughs, leading Koy to make excuses and discuss his lack of preparation time in advance of the event. It was a cringe-y thing to witness, and as you would expect, the internet was not forgiving of his performance. The comedian is getting a through dunking on social media, and it does not take a lot of searching to find responses.
Take, for example, this Tweet from TV writer Chase Mitchell, who ponders that Jo Koy wasn't so much as hired for the Golden Globes hosting gig as he did just take it without invitation:
I feel like nobody was in charge of the golden globes and Jo Koy just walked in and said “I’m hosting” and nobody bothered to check if that was rightJanuary 8, 2024
Theater critic Adam Feldman admits in a post that he isn't aware of Jo Koy's career prior to his Golden Globes hosting gig, but he has put out a call for emergency services:
I don’t know who Jo Koy is but someone please send a medic ‘cause he’s dying up thereJanuary 8, 2024
The writer running the Vulture account found the monologue jokes about Oppenheimer's runtime to be fitting, as it made them reflect on how long the Golden Globes is going to be:
Jo Koy making jokes about how long Oppenheimer is but ... we're only 5 minutes into his monologue and it feels like 100 hoursJanuary 8, 2024
Writer Dana Abercrombie has posted similar thoughts. Along with a GIF of a cat who looks wholly spaced out and bored, there is extreme concern about how long the show is going to last.
Jo Koy is NOT funny. This is going to be a LONG night.#GoldenGlobes #GoldenGlobes2024 pic.twitter.com/kkX726G0uCJanuary 8, 2024
My favorite reaction of the bunch, however, most definitely comes from Twitter user Peter Knegt, who suggested that Saltburn star Rosamund Pike had a very specific reason for wearing a black dress with a veil to the 2024 Golden Globes festivities:
Oh I get it now she knew was coming to a funeral for Jo Koy’s career! pic.twitter.com/d8y6XuDaYTJanuary 8, 2024
Following a rough start, the show can really only get better from here, right? Perhaps the bad monologue was a specific effort to set an incredibly low bar for the night allowing everything that happens in the rest of the proceedings to appear tremendous by comparison.
The Golden Globes are currently airing on CBS (available to watch with a Paramount+ subscription), and you can follow along with our updates from the show all night tonight on CinemaBlend as awards are given to the best movies and TV series from the past year.
