83rd Annual Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser made her name as a roast comedian. But her opening monologue for the 2026 award show proved that the best digs only work when the roaster reveres her subjects.
Glaser’s speech that kicked off her second stint as host of the annual award show managed to playfully goad just about every A-lister in the room.
Glaser roasted “Jay Kelly” lead actor nominee George Clooney for essentially playing himself in director Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama about an aging Hollywood screen legend and managed to reference both Sean Penn’s activism and his supposed eagerness to age naturally in digs at supporting actor in director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.” Even if the stars weren’t the subjects of the roasts, they were the punchlines — such as saying that she, like those nominated in the new podcast category, shouldn’t be allowed near Julia Roberts. The harshed digs were saved for those whom she knew could take it, like cracks about fellow comedian Kevin Hart’s (nominated for his standup special, “Kevin Hart: Acting My Age”) legendary short stature, musical or comedy film nominee “Wicked: For Good’s” obvious money grab by splitting the musical into two films, or the benefit of best actor nominee Michael B. Jordan playing two parts in “Sinners” is that it’s double the sex appeal.
Her hat trick rested on the fact that all of this is based on what the stars (and their representatives) have already put out there in the public consciousness. Glaser told “One Battle After Another” star Leonardo DiCaprio that she knew a snide jab about his history of dating younger women was an easy one but he didn’t give her a ton to work with.
“The most in-depth interview you’ve ever given was in a ‘Teen Week’ magazine in 1991,” she told him from the stage. “Is your favorite food still ‘pasta, pasta and more pasta’?.”
But Glaser ended her monologue by proving she comes to all of this with a fan’s love. She impersonated “The Beast in Me” best actress in a miniseries nominee Claire Danes’ infamous hysterical sobbing and filmmakers Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron — whose respective films “Frankenstein” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” were both multiple nominees — penchant for making “weird monster sex movies.”
As Glaser herself joked that there are other major stories happening in the world, her monologue set the tone that what’s happening in the Beverly Hilton ballroom may not be the most important thing going on that night. But they still impact how much these art forms mean to those who make them and those, like Glaser, who watch and enjoy them.
