Nikki Glaser is hosting the cursed Golden Globes in 2025

The Golden Globes ceremony, an event plagued by endless modern scandals centered on the erasure of non-white artists in nominations,
allegations connecting the event to corruption, and handing out an award to a comedian accused of using transphobic rhetoric, is coming back in January 2025. Much like a bloodthirsty zombie, Mel Gibson's directing career, or Katy Perry's music, the Golden Globes keep coming back from the dead despite nobody wanting them around. The 82nd Golden Globe Awards officially have a host, even as the Academy Awards reportedly scramble to find a host for its next incarnation. The next Golden Globes host will be no less than Nikki Glaser.

Glaser is a stand-up comedian most famous now for her various reality TV show hosting gigs, including her work anchoring an iteration of Blind Date, hosting FBoy Island, and most recently starring in Lovers and Liars. She's also appeared in a handful of motion pictures (namely Amy Schumer star vehicles I Feel Pretty and Trainwreck) and had sizeable roles in celebrity roasts like The Roast of Tom Brady.

She fits right into the pantheon of modern Golden Globe hosts that pivot towards comedians. When the Golden Globes returned to employing a host in January 2010 after eschewing the practice for 15 years, Ricky Gervais was the first 21st-century Golden Globes host. He returned to host the ceremony with his unfunny snark on four further occasions, while Tina Fey & Amy Poehler also hosted a quartet of ceremonies. Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jerrod Carmichael are all prime examples of modern Golden Globes hosts. Glaser fits right into the spirit of those individuals. As a side note, wow, 80s Golden Globes hosts were random. Charlton Heston AND Donna Mills, together at last for the 43rd Golden Globes! Faye Dunaway and Tim Curry united for the 51st Golden Globes! The Golden Globes are so weird.

Glaser's funny, experienced, and famous enough TV host to make her a no-brainer for hosting an awards program. Another benefit of her presence? She'll probably avoid the misogynistic jokes that got the last Golden Globes host, Jo Koy, in hot water. That boondoggle of an opening monologue from Koy was iconic for all the wrong reasons. It projected the kind of tired, stodgy, and prejudiced aura that Dick Clark Productions (the new owners of the Golden Globes) have been trying to detach from the Golden Globes. Nowhere to go but up, especially with Glaser around.

Still, even with a solid performer like Glaser around, the continued presence of the Golden Globes is an irritation and outright bamboozling. Yes, the Golden Globes have been sold from its original controversial owners, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The voting body of this award ceremony has also increased dramatically to include a more diverse array of members. Still, just trying to constantly tweak the Golden Globes feels like trying to put duct tape on a sinking ship. This is still a ceremony that handed Ricky Gervais a Golden Globe last year. This is still a ceremony where, across 12 Best Picture slots last year, only two went to movies directed by people of color. Then there's Jo Koy's whole monologue, an encapsulation of how you can take the Golden Globes out of the HFPA but you can't take the HFPA out of this ceremony.

Even the ratings for the Golden Globes aren't exactly massive enough to suggest why they're being kept around. At least the Oscars are regularly still the most-watched non-sports program of a given year. The January 2024 Golden Globes, meanwhile, secured only 9.4 million viewers. Not dismal for 2024 live television on a broadcast network but also not outstanding enough to suggest keeping this ship alive. We'll see if Nikki Glaser can inject any life into an enterprise that, right now, crystallizes Hollywood's continued dedication to salvaging old corrupted institutions above all else.