Hosting award shows is one of Hollywood’s most thankless jobs, but comedian Nikki Glaser appeared to strike all the right notes with Golden Globes viewers.
Glaser — an Emmy– Globe- and Grammy-nominated stand-up comedian — is being praised for helping elevate the once embattled ceremony. While ratings have not yet been released, critics and fans complimented Glaser’s roasting skills and quippy jokes throughout the night.
“I gotta say, this feels like I finally made it,” Glaser said during her monologue. “You know, I’m in a room full of producers at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and this time, all of my clothes are on, so it was worth it.”
The night proved to be a stark contrast from the 2024 show, when people criticized host Jo Koy’s performance as mediocre after many of his jokes fell flat. (Koy later said he had an “off night,” but that the criticism he received was difficult to hear.)
Glaser is coming off a high-profile year. “Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die,” her second HBO stand-up special, which was nominated for a Globe, debuted on the network in May. She also generated high praise for her part in Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady.”
She was the first woman to host the event solo — Amy Poehler and Tina Fey hosted together several times, and Sandra Oh split hosting duties with Andy Samberg in 2019.
During her monologue, she riffed at Timothée Chalamet for his role as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” joking that his “singing voice was so accurate that even Bob Dylan himself admitted that it was absolutely horrible.”
She closed her opening with some motivational words for the A-listers nominated in the room.
“I do want to remind you, if you do lose tonight, please just keep in mind that the point of making art is not to win an award,” she said. “The point of making art is to start a tequila brand so popular that you never have to make art again.”
Later in the show, as she changed into various sequin outfits, she tried her own take of “Popular” from “Wicked” with a parody song, “Pope-ular,” a nod to “Conclave.”
“Wait, this sucks? Wait, this whole show sucks?” she joked before cutting off.
A critic from The Hollywood Reporter called Glaser a “tremendous improvement over last year’s event” and said that she reminded “audiences once again of the importance of above-average hosting.”
Time magazine said that Glaser “hit her marks” from the moment she welcomed the room of stars to “Ozempic’s biggest night” to the close of the event.
The Los Angeles Times’ critic said Glaser’s “jokes were good, her delivery tight, she earned the good time she was clearly having.”
Ahead of the awards show, Glaser told reporters on the red carpet that she practiced the monologue 93 times before the telecast.
In an interview with the Globes’ official website that published before the ceremony, Glaser said headlining was “scary,” but that she was excited about the challenge.
Daniel Arkin, Angela Yang and Rebecca Cohen contributed.
