Jo Koy is bringing comedy front and center at this year's Golden Globes.
The stand-up comic and actor hosted this year's star-studded gala -- marking his first time hosting an awards show -- and kicked things off with a fun, playful monologue that set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Koy explained why he was so excited to be hosting the show, and how he used to watch it with his family when he was young.
"When I was a kid growing up, I used to watch this show. I would stay up late with my family just trying to guess who would win, and every time, my mom would say, 'It's Meryl Streep, stupid. Who else is going to win? She wins every time,'" Koy quipped. "And she was right! You do, you win all the time."
The monologue itself had a fun energy as Koy gently roasted the films' nominees, and when some jokes didn't land quite as strong, Koy was able to fall back on how he had limited time to write his monologue.
"Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Shut up! You are kidding me, right? Slow down," Koy jokingly teased the audience. "I wrote some of these and they're the ones you're laughing at."
A few of the jokes did cut a little close to the bone, however, and yet still managed to get laughs from the subjects of those jokes -- including Robert De Niro.
"Decade after decade, he kills it every single time. I don't know how you do it, man. I swear to God. Your last performance has got to be your greatest performance ever. How did you get her pregnant at 80?" Koy joked, referring to De Niro welcoming a baby daughter with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen. "Was it CGI?"
Another surprising highlight came when he joked about Barry Keoghan's full-frontal nudity in Saltburn.
"That was the real star of the movie -- his penis. If you haven't seen Saltburn, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, so watch it... Then, right after that, watch Barbie, and then you're going to be like, 'Something's missing,'" Koy joked. "Then, after that, watch Maestro, and you're gonna be like, 'Oh, there it is! It's on Bradley Cooper's face.'"
Koy's announcement as host came very shortly before the show itself, and the decision was somewhat last-minute, with Koy only having eight days to get a whole monologue together before the big night.
Koy spoke with ET's Nischelle Turner on the red carpet ahead of Sunday's show, and admitted that, since the moment the news was announced, things have been moving quickly.
"I haven't slept [at all]," he said. "So I've just been hyper-focused and and gearing up for this moment."
Along the way, he's also gotten a lot of support from his fellow comics, who have reached out to share their advice.
"It's been great! Especially today, you know? Tiffany [Haddish], you know, Whoopi [Goldberg] and [Stephen] Colbert, just all my comedy friends, have been reaching out to me," Koy added. "[So] we're having fun tonight."
Koy previously sat down with ET last week, as he geared up for the big night, and the comedian turned actor, 52, said that being in a position to host the ceremony is something that he always dreamt of and felt like a full-circle moment.
"It does mean a lot," he said. "You know, we say this all the time and I think we beat it over the head a lot, but it's like -- it's representation, [it matters], it really does. It's like, when I was a kid, all we could watch were award shows. And as a kid, you look for something to inspire you indirectly, you know?"
The Washington state native said that to see someone like him on the stage would have been life-changing as a young Filipino kid. He hopes that he can now be the inspiration for others in a similar position.
"I don't need you to tell me who you are but as long as I can see you up there, then I know that it's possible," Koy said. "I didn't have that, and now here we are you know 30 -- what, 35 years later."
The 2024 Golden Globes airs Sunday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and streams on Paramount+. Check out ETonline.com for complete Golden Globes coverage and the full list of winners.
RELATED CONTENT:
