How to craft an awards show monologue

Lessons from how Nikki Glaser prepared to host the 2025 Golden Globes.

Jan 06, 2025

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Nikki hosts the Globes

NYT’s Jason Zinoman went deep with Nikki Glaser as she prepped for hosting the Golden Globes: “She relied on two writers’ rooms and 91 test runs. Then came the fickle audiences and a crisis of confidence.”

She spelled out to me how she expected the month before the ceremony to go: She would do the set in clubs every night multiple times, shed a few tears, get bored with her jokes, get worse at delivering them, and then a few days before the Globes, have a panic attack. “I know myself,” she said. That prediction wasn't entirely borne out (no tears), but she was close.

Here’s how it went:

I thought she did awesome. This chunk was especially great:

"Tonight, we celebrate the best of film and hold space for television," she said, before listing some of the films nominated for awards. "Yes, Wicked, Queer, Nightbitch."
"These are not just words Ben Affleck yells after he orgasms. These are some of the incredible movies nominated tonight," she added.

At both the Globes and the Brady roast, she never wasted a word. Everything counted and you could feel the work that went in.

Others agreed: She delivered “the most positively received Globes hosting” of recent years.

Her approach offers some good lessons on how to host an award show/prep for a big set:

Get ideas from other writers over Zoom or however

She invited ideas from her staff of 10 writers for the opening monologue that she will deliver as the host on Sunday…She meets daily with an inner circle of writers to go over the set and three or four times a week with a larger group of writers.

Try dozens of punchline options for each joke

“Leave before Harrison Ford snaps at you.”
“Getting Ted Sarandos’s personal number.”
“See if they can parlay a Golden Globes win into an appearance on ‘Hot Ones.’”

Be okay acting as a joke curator

As she explained, “I used to feel like I need a hand in every joke I tell, but I now know that part of my talent is curating and knowing what works with my delivery.”

Offer an “everyman” p.o.v.

Glaser advised her writers to study those [Fey/Poehler] monologues and took a moment to marvel at Fey’s starting her 2015 Globes gig by saying: “Welcome, you bunch of despicable, spoiled, minimally talented brats.”
“That’s the tone I like where there’s an everyman aspect,” she told her writers. Smiling, she reflected more: “I couldn’t go that hard.”

Begin with a self-deprecating introduction

She would not make the mistake Jo Koy did hosting last year’s Globes when he didn’t take his writers’ advice to start with a self-deprecating introduction, then blamed them for bombing. He acted as if he was performing for his fans as opposed to the celebrity crowd and the broader television audience.

Split the difference between the audiences at home and in the room

The obstacle course of awards show monologues involves navigating two very different audiences: the people watching at home and the stars in the room. Some comics focus on one or the other, but Glaser said it was critical to “split the difference…It’s almost more important that it gets a laugh in the room than the substance of the joke itself. I wish that weren’t true, but it is.”

Prune every bit of excess

Her emphasis is on pruning every bit of excess…To go quick and spare, allow jokes to go over heads as long as there’s a promise of another one coming soon after.

Transitions are a waste of time

Transitions are a pet peeve. “I don’t tolerate any information that doesn’t have a punchline attached,” she explained.

Be a good host for what follows

“Once we strip away my little jokes, like, am I doing a good job of setting the stage for what an important night this is?” she asked. “And are we really honoring these people and celebrating what this night is all about?”

Get ready for jokes to stop seeming funny

Glaser said she had performed the jokes at clubs so often (91 times before the ceremony) that she could no longer tell if they were funny. How could she? She knew every surprise coming. She likened her relationship with her material to a marriage where she’s not gaga anymore. The jokes have been reliable, sure, but a political one that always kills recently bombed. That rattled her. “Maybe it bums people out,” she said, sounding confused…
What reassures her, she said, is the same crisis that occurred before the roast. She grew tired of her own jokes. Just doing it for real, the performance, saved her. “You have to fake it at first a little bit,” she said of her enthusiasm for familiar punchlines.

Commit to even the silliest jokes – ooze comfort and confidence

When Glaser got in trouble with hers, she returned to Fey and Poehler. When she watched their monologues, she noticed the commitment, even to the silliest, most tossed-off-seeming idea. She said she thought her jokes were as good as the ones in their monologues. “What’s lacking right now that they had was the comfort, the confidence in the performance,” she said.

After it aired, Zinoman followed up with this piece on what shifted in the final version. A couple more tips from Glaser’s approach mentioned in that…

Don’t be scared to be weird

She planned a joke that never made it into Sunday’s awards show about shouting out Harrison Ford and then saying, “Harrison Ford is here to show us a cool rock he found.”
It was more off-kilter than her usual material, and it absolutely delighted Glaser. She told her staff that this was a different kind of laugh they should embrace: “Don’t be scared to be weird.”

List names within jokes

Glaser had struggled over the question of whether to mention stars in the audience before inviting applause. She wanted to include as many as possible but didn’t want to slow things down. She ended up mentioning several in a list for a joke poking fun at movie stars moonlighting in television.