Hosting an award show can be hard, though, most of us really don't know that first-hand. Someone who got a taste of such a gig just recently is Jo Koy, who hosted the 2024 Golden Globes and bombed with his monologue. Since then, the Internet has been roasting Koy for it. While comic continues to take his lumps, there is one veteran comedian and former awards show host who has a fresh perspective that's worth considering. Steve Martin was the person who shared his take on the situation, and I'm here for his sentiments.
While people continue to debate the merits of Jo Koy's jokes about Taylor Swift and more Steve Martin popped up on Threads to drop his two cents on the Golden Globes and the comedian's job hosting. While many are poking fun, Martin decided to commend Koy for the job he did and share his own experience with hosting award shows as a comedian:
I tip my hat to anyone who steps out on stage to host a live awards show. It’s a very difficult job and not for the squeamish. I know because I’m still throwing up from the last time I did it in 2010. So, Congratulations to Jo Koy, who took on the toughest gig in show business, hit, missed, was light on his feet, and now has twenty minutes of new material for his stand-up!
A lot of what Steve Martin said above matched Jo Koy's own thoughts about hosting the Golden Globes. Handling such a gig isn't exactly easy, especially when you're a comedian -- whose job it is to try to make the audience at home laugh at the expense of famous celebrities in the room. Though not every star is going to think the jokes are funny, and the same can be said for the members of the general public that are tuning in. Such comments can cut particularly deep for public figures, though, especially as far as their work is concerned.
For instance, the Easter Sunday star made a joke about Barbie having big boobs. Making a quip like that in front of a group of creatives who strived to make a movie combating that exact stereotype is a lot different from saying it in front of an average audience at a stand-up show. The actor and comic is a fan of those who came before him, as he listed his comedy legends while speaking to CinemaBlend. So one would think that he'd be happy to know he has an understanding colleague in Steve Martin.
And as the Only Murders in the Building star also said, maybe this experience will lead to Jo Koy making one of the funniest stand-up comedy specials on Netflix at some point. He does, after all, now have a lot of interesting material to draw from. Whether they found the monologue funny or not, it's likely that audiences will tune in to see what he has to say about the experience when he takes to the stage again. It remains to be seen if Koy will ever take on another hosting gig and, if he does, he can keep Martin's sage advice in mind.
We'll have to wait and see what Jo Koy's next big move will be following the Golden Globes, and cross our fingers that the next major host of an award show won't have to scramble to pull together their monologue at the last-minute. If you'd like to check out some of Koy's past work, grab a Netflix subscription and tune into his specials.
