Here’s a question to consider: Is the Golden Globes a comedy show where you can learn the truth about things? Things like politics? If you watch their commercials, you might be led to believe so. After all, it’s always hosted by a comedian or a comedic actor. And we always hear a tagline like “Hollywood’s wildest night,” as we cut to celebrities sitting at big dinner tables, enjoying an open bar… on live television! It’s like an invitation to the audience to see behind the scenes, where silliness and vodka tonic-induced comfortability will show the “real Hollywood.” And, of course, none of this is true.
Our comedic host will tell a few jokes at the beginning, amusing but similar to years previous. They don’t present the major awards, as more serious Hollywood types give out Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, etc. What was promised to be hilarious fun turns out to largely be a self-congratulatory ode to art cinema and tv (and podcasts, not sure what that’s about), and a soft Academy Awards preview. And our Cosmopolitan imbibing celebrities at the tables? They stand and applaud when it’s appropriate, the implied honesty from their alcohol-induced lowered inhibitions nowhere to be seen.
Until now, kind of. If you read news headlines about the Golden Globes, after the event (like I did), it sounds like the most politically charged event of this new year. Mark Ruffalo directly criticized President Trump for the invasion of Venezuela and for I.C.E.’s killing of Renee Nicole Good. His comments were not comedic, but they were certainly topical, and a bold way to start a conversation. Even if that conversation was mostly White House Communications Director Steven Cheung cleverly calling Mark Ruffalo a bad actor and a liar, in a hastily written X post.
The issue is Ruffalo’s rhetoric only took place on the red carpet, and was only fully understood if you read about it afterwards. The same thing with the “Be Good” or “Ice Out” buttons, a coded statement against I.C.E. that some celebrities pinned to their clothing. But what do you see of this during the actual awards? Nothing, or some presenter and award winners wearing tiny white buttons that are not addressed.
And what does Nikki Glaser, world-renowned standup comedian and veteran of several Comedy Central roasts, have to say in this heightened political climate? “A Good Chalamet To You!” Celebrity banter that will be forgotten just in time for the Oscars or next year’s Globes.
It’s too bad there’s not a fun awards show for people to enjoy incisive political commentary with actual alcohol-induced openness. I guess you can drink Schnapps while watching “The Daily Show” or “Gufield!” It just might be “the wildest night in your house watching cable.”
