As the first Filipino emcee at the Golden Globe Awards, Jo Koy‘s hosting gig on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 quickly turned bittersweet for Filipinos as his jokes made the star-studded audience squirm in their seats and hide their faces.
Throw in Taylor Swift’s staring-into-Blank-Space expression while sipping champagne, and the Swifties have pretty much declared Taylor and Koy are Never. Ever. Getting.Back.Together.
Like ever.
So what happened at the Globes?
Jo Koy—real name Joseph Herbert—started out his hosting duties at The Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom innocently enough, admitting that this was a “dream come true” for him.
His first few jokes about Kevin Costner and Meryl Streep were well-received: “Kevin’s never here. (He’s usually) in a mountain with a cow” and “Meryl always wins.
Who else is going to win?”
Jo Koy’s comment about only seeing “Beef”—a Netflix mini-series about road rage—before he was called as a host garnered a few laughs, too.
“It’s mandatory (to watch it). I’m Asian.”
It was when he stated that the “Barbie” movie was all about a “plastic doll with big boobies” that the audience’s reaction started to shift, and it just went downhill from there.
It was painful to watch a comedian at the top of his game—he sells out 23,000 tickets in massive arenas, has four successful shows on Comedy Central and Netflix, among other achievements—having an “off night”, as he later admitted.
Actors Selena Gomez and Helen Mirren tried to hide their embarassment by looking down and putting their hands in front of their faces as lewd jokes about body parts ricocheted around the room full of actors, writers, directors, and musicians.
It also didn’t help matters much when, as he became aware that his jokes failed to make the crowd LOL, he blamed it on the writers and in his defense said, “I got the gig 10 days ago.”
“You want a perfect monologue? Shut up.”
Swift Reaction
Perhaps the most viral moment happened when Jo Koy said:
“The big difference between the Golden Globe and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”
Swift stared seriously ahead, pursed her lips, took a sip of her drink, and by doing so, launched a hundred memes.
Her fandom reacted, quickly nailing Jo Koy to the cross of public opinion.
The job nobody wanted
To be fair, hosting an awards show with ten days’ notice—even for a veteran comedian—is a herculian task.
Jo Koy accepted the job that nobody else wanted.
Whoopi Goldberg, a veteran Academy Awards host, defended Jo Koy, saying that “these hosting gigs are brutal”.
Steve Martin also showed support for Jo Koy, saying that “Jo Koy 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!”
He threw his hat in the ring, played to the toughest crowd he’s ever faced in his life, and didn’t give up even when arrows started flinging his way.
You see, Jo Koy is used to playing to a supportive, loving crowd, mostly made up of Filipinos who understand the cultural references behind the jokes.
His set involves perfect impressions of his mom’s hard Filipino accent, jokes about his puberty-stricken, stinky son, and spot-on mannerisms and accents of other Asians.
At the GG’s?
His audience is made up of predominantly white mega-celebrities who are mostly unaware of who he is and his Filipino heritage, are secure in their status and not concerned at all with hiding their contempt of a failed gag.
In short, not his typical audience. A tough crowd to impress, let alone pry a giggle.
He’s used to always getting belly-busting laughter, magnified a thousand times in an arena.
He spent years perfecting his shtick, not ten days.
As a host, this was his debut. Has anyone ever performed perfectly the first time they’ve tried something?
Bottom line: he will always be the first Filipino to host a major Hollywood awards show.
THAT is a major accomplishment, and something Filipinos should be proud of.
And like many resilient Filipinos coming out of a major catastrophe with a positive vibe, he said he had the best time.
“I got to meet Meryl Streep.”
How does Pinoy comedian Jo Koy fill arenas? - Mabuhay Canada
March 16, 2024 @ 6:10 pm
[…] You’d think it was Taylor Swift’s concert judging from the line-ups outside, but nah: Jo Koy and Tay-tay are Never.Ever.Getting.Back.Together. […]