How Nikki Glaser and an unpredictable track record saved the 2025 Golden Globes

After the total disaster of last year’s Golden Globes keynote speech – lame jokes, crude and practically shouted down by the host Jo Koy – what a wonderful boost it was to see this year’s host, Nikki Glaserraise the bar, and even a little more, at the start of Sunday evening’s show.

Nikki Glaser arrived at the Golden Globes presentation after a stellar 2024, with her aptly nominated standup special at the Globes and, most importantly, a star-making performance at the roast of Tom Brady. His jokes were lewd, crude, and precisely crafted, but that style probably wasn’t quite ready for prime-time broadcast. And certainly not for an awards show that’s allowed to lightly poke fun at the celebrities in the audience, but can’t go too far below the belt. One wondered how Glaser would manage to calibrate his typically scathing and biting comedy for a gentler show.

It turns out she calculated her risks very well. His presentation was lively and intelligent, including some allusions to the depravity of Hollywood culture that were worded broadly enough not to offend anyone in particular (apart from P. Diddyi guess). His jokes were delivered with a modest reverence for the great films of the year and their dazzling talent, while bursting the audience’s golden bubble. She knew which celebrities to target, the ones who were willing enough to go the distance with her, or at least laugh with her, which requires a special talent that Nikki Glaser has of course honed over the years, albeit in a very limited way. more extreme, during the numerous roasts she organized.

The greatest compliment I can pay is that Nikki Glaser’s first appearance, and subsequent appearances on stage, recalled the three glorious years when the Globes were hosted by Tina Fey et Amy Poehlera perhaps unparalleled period of loving mockery of Hollywood. Glaser didn’t indulge in the same absurdity as Fey and Poehler, but many of her jokes were just as racy. And she added a certain dose of abstract silliness to other moments in the show, particularly during an inspired passage where she began, then shamefully stopped, a phony musical parody number reminiscent of the era of the Oscars, now over.

Nikki Glaser’s stage presence recalls the fluidity of yesteryear, when many awards ceremonies were conducted with a droning professionalism that is sorely lacking in our age of pointless tinkering and mediocre entertainment.

The emotion of Zoe Saldaña

But that doesn’t mean the whole show was a smash hit. There have indeed been some bad tweaks to the format, particularly one holdover from last year that really needs to be eliminated: why can’t the presenters stand on the stage, facing the audience? Why did the show’s producers choose to place the presenters in close-up, with their backs to the celebrities in the room? This staging cancels out the effect of any funny scripted jokes (and there were some this year!). If people in the room aren’t really invited in on the joke, they won’t laugh as much, which makes the audience laugh less at home.

The first awards ceremony of the evening, very stilted, at a Zoe Saldana upset and in tears, who demonstrated old-fashioned seriousness in the best possible way, immediately halted Nikki Glaser’s momentum. The shoddy images, terribly complemented by muffled sound, did viewers no favors. The producers were even criticized by the kind Canadian Seth Rogen ! Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, award ceremonies.

Nonetheless, the successful start of Nikki Glaser’s presentation went a long way toward overshadowing these issues, as did a handful of fine speeches from the likes of Zoe Saldaña, Demi Moore and, yes, even the former awards show pariah Adrien Brody. There was a real sense of occasion in this show, a meeting of mirth and seriousness, that has been missing from many award shows post-pandemic (and probably even before). (Probably even before).

Tension et humour effervescent

Perhaps this is due, at least in part, to an innate suspense that even the most skillful of ceremony producers could not create. The film awards season has never been richer than in recent years, and several major categories have no clear winner. If on the television side, the winners were boring and predictable, the films lived up to it. Tonight, we had the pleasant surprise of seeing Demi Moore win for The Substance et Fernanda Torres pour I’m still here. Of course we all saw it coming Kieran Culkinbut Zoe Saldaña’s victory in the supporting category seemed less certain than it was before, due to the recent arrival of Wicked in the race. But the loss of Wicked was the gain ofEmilia Perezfavorite of the nominations. I suppose it’s not that shocking that the most nominated film at the Globes won, but there was always a certain doubt about the night that made it, I dare say, truly exciting to watch. look.