It’s Jo Koy vs. the Golden Globes audience after awkward opening monologue

Jo Koy’s hosting of the 2024 Golden Globe Awards got off to a rocky start with an awkward opening monologue.

Koy was met with some obvious apprehension on Sunday evening, as he delivered jokes about the most popular films, shows, and actors of the year. After admitting that he lied to the Golden Globes about whether he had seen all the nominated titles prior to booking the hosting gig last month, he explained how he “binged watched everything” in the past few weeks to catch up. Then, diving into the jokes themselves, it seemed like maybe he had started watching everything, but hadn’t quite finished watching everything.

Notably, when making his rounds through some of the Best Motion Picture nominees, he described Greta Gerwig’s historic blockbuster, Barbie, as being about “a plastic doll with big boobies,” a less-intellectual topic compared to Oppenheimer (which he hopes to “finish in 2025,” joking that it “needed another hour”).

Then, joking that he didn’t want to be seen as a “creep” for “being attracted to a plastic doll,” he revealed a twist-ending punchline: “It’s something about your eyes, Ryan [Gosling].” Turning to Margot Robbie, he said “Margot, it’s not always about you.” Cutting to Gosling and Robbie, they laugh, but seem to otherwise have a “meh” vibe in response to Koy’s Barbie material, as did Christopher Nolan when the camera cut to him during the Oppenheimer jokes.

Feeling the tension (or perhaps just playing up the host vs audience chic of the Golden Globes), Koy got a bit defensive, even saying at one point: “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago. What do you want? A perfect monologue? Shut up. I wrote some of these [jokes], and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

As for the biting side of Koy’s monologue, he took aim at Killers of the Flower Moon, first picking Robert De Nero out from the audience and apologizing “if it’s awkward.” He then asked: “How’d you get her pregnant at 80? CGI?” Hiding his face from De Nero in fear of disapproval, Koy asked the audience “Is he looking?” The camera revealed that not only was De Nero looking, but laughing.

Turning his focus to Killers of the Flower Moon as a whole, though, the room got more chilly. After highlighting some of the film’s stars, Koy joked that the movie taught him that “white people stole 100% of everything… [including] the land, the oil, [and] the premise of the movie.” The camera then cut to the film’s director, Martin Scorsese, who didn’t seem overly pleased. Koy was, though. “That’s hilarious, I don’t care,” he said. “It’s just that the room is really white. The room is like ‘Yeah, we did take it. And?’”

Other topics of Koy’s jokes included Bradley Cooper’s nose in Maestro, which he said he saw “dancing in Saltburn,” comparing the prosthetic to a nude scene with Barry Keoghan in the latter title. He also joked about The Color Purple (which is “what happens to your butt when you take Ozempic”), Succession (which taught him that billionaires shouldn’t have kids), The Crown, Netflix’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle deal, and more. Replying to the reaction to the latter jab, Koy assured the audience “I have a deal too, chill.”

, Koy even dared to target 2023’s It-person (and Consequence’s 2023 Artist of the Year): Taylor Swift. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, there are less camera shots of Taylor Swift,” he joked, referencing Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce. Cutting to Swift, the camera revealed her response: a shady look to Koy, and a sip of her drink.

Finishing out, Koy turned to Meryl Streep, whom he had flattered in the beginning of his monologue with the classic “She always wins the awards” joke. Praising her for another nomination (“Duh”), he joked that his favorite line from her from her career was “Wakanda forever.” Then, kinda awkwardly, Koy requested that Streep do the “Wakanda forever” chest cross salute for the audience, which she did. That part was honestly pretty funny.

Too late to add Jo Koy to the In Memoriam montage? I think Taylor just ended him. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zxg3btxInw

— Jeremie Ballinger (@SOBallinger) January 8, 2024