Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have remained steadfast hosting partners for three Golden Globes ceremonies, at each other sides as they trade whipsmart, stick-it-to-Hollywood one-liners at the A-listers in the front row. But in their fourth stint leading the Globes on Sunday night, the two comedians were thousands of miles apart due to the coronavirus pandemic, Poehler at the ballroom of Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton Hotel and Fey in New York City’s Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center.
“I love being in the Rainbow Room, pretending I’m talking to Amy… though I thought it’d be a few years from now,” Fey quipped during their opening monologue, as on the other side of the split screen, a disembodied hand (standing in for Fey) stroked Poehler’s right shoulder.
Amid the unprecedented circumstances of hosting a seen-and-be-seen Hollywood award show during a pandemic, Fey and Poehler remained committed to doing what they do best and dished out topical quips about this year’s nominees in television (“The Queen’s Gambit is whatever James Corden was doing in The Prom“) and film (“French Exit is what I did after watching the first episode of Emily in Paris“). They even managed to remark on the intoxicated attendees of past years’ Globes, although Fey’s joke about an inebriated Meryl Streep was just a tad less fun without Streep herself in attendance.
The duo also addressed the Globe’s recent controversies head-on, including the onslaught of criticism from autism advocates that has befallen two-time nominated film Music and its star Kate Hudson. “Sia’s controversial film Music is nominated for Best International Flopperuni,” Fey said. “I don’t want to get into it, guys, but it’s real problematic, and Twitter says it’s the worst miscasting since Kate Hudson was cast in a Weight Watchers commercial.”
As for the recent revelations that the 87-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association contains no black members, Fey and Poehler stressed that “inclusivity is still important” despite the award show’s “silliness.”
“Even with stupid things, inclusivity is still important… I realize, HFPA, that you didn’t get the memo because your office is in the back booth of a French McDonalds,” Poehler quipped. She then announced that proceeds from the show would be donated towards Feeding America‘s Covid-19 aid efforts. A nice gesture, although what the Globes plans on doing to address its major issues of inequality remains to be seen.
