Nikki Glaser was trying to “strike the right tone” during her second turn as Golden Globes host, which led to her decision to nix jokes about Donald Trump and ICE.
Glaser sat down with Howard Stern on Tuesday, where she revealed she wrote more pointedly political jokes than the ones she ended up telling on stage Sunday night.
“I was going to come in at some point and say, ‘I’m hearing from the bar that we’re out of ice. And you know, we don’t really need ice. And actually, I hate ice,’” she told Stern.
Glaser said she decided against the quip because “it just felt like, oh, even that’s just being too trivial.” ICE’s shooting of Renee Good happened just days before the broadcast, on Jan. 7.
Several celebrities wore “ICE OUT” and “BE GOOD” pins to the awards show to protest the shooting, including actor Mark Ruffalo, actress Natasha Lyonne, comedian Wanda Sykes, and singer-actress Ariana Grande. Glaser told Stern that she found it “hard to strike the right tone” with jokes about something so serious. Also, “it’s not funny,” she added.
Glaser had similar thoughts about a joke that took aim at Trump’s penchant for renaming things.
Comedian Steve Martin had suggested that Glaser joke on stage that the Globes were being held at “The Trump Beverly Hilton” (instead of The Beverly Hilton, where they were actually held), a nod to the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
Last week, before she revealed what the joke was, Glaser told CBS Mornings that what Martin sent went “too far.” Martin reached out to advise her not to do the joke before the show, a conclusion Glaser said she’d already come to beforehand.
“It was like, you just don’t say that guy’s name right now,” Glaser said Tuesday. “I just want to give it space.”
The comedian did manage to get in at least political jabs when she slammed the awards show’s network, CBS—a subsidiary of Trump-friendly Paramount—for its new right-leaning news leadership.
“The award for most editing goes to CBS News. Yes. CBS News: America’s newest place to ‘see B.S.’ news,” she said on stage Sunday.
Glaser also called out the Trump administration’s paltry Epstein files release when she said, “There are so many A‑listers here—and by A‑listers, I do mean people who are on a list that has been heavily redacted. And the Golden Globe for Best Editing goes to the Justice Department.”
Glaser also shared with Stern the other jokes she cut about figures like Sean Penn, Jean Smart, Brad Pitt, and One Battle After Another breakout star Chase Infiniti:
- “Chase Infiniti is nominated for best actress tonight, and Chase Infiniti is her real name. And this is true, if you apply now, you can earn 5 percent cash back on all travel bookings through her through the end of the year. So get on that.”
- “Chase Infiniti Payne is actually her real name. Chase Infiniti Pain, which is also how Sean Penn gets an erection.”
- “Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio are all here tonight for the category Least Eyes. Leo, why are you always squinting? I mean, I assume it’s to read your girlfriend’s ID. Just making sure that the year starts with a two.”
- “Some people have stage names like Hacks star Jean Smart, whose real name is Corduroy Dumbass.”
- “Jonathan Bailey is here. Jonathan is the first openly gay man to be named the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, and at first I was like, ‘Do we really need to say openly?’ and then I looked at a list of past winners and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, we do.’”
- “Brad Pitt is nominated for his role in F1 tonight. See, that’s what I love about Hollywood. When a man turns 60, he gets to play a racecar driver. Meanwhile, after 35, every role for a woman is a tired mom who hates her life. And Brad, you were so good enough when I was almost convinced that you’ve driven yourself somewhere in the last 30 years. But Brad did a lot of his own driving in the movie. And Brad, I don’t want to embarrass you, but your blinker was on the whole time there.”
- “Tonight is a night of celebration, but we can’t ignore that it’s a weird time in Hollywood. You know, people just aren’t going to the theaters to see things. If you don’t believe me, there was a movie this year where Sydney Sweeney played a lesbian who just bounced around in tiny shorts for two hours and it made $14.”
And she also revealed the joke about Julia Roberts that apparently had not played well with fans of the actress: “Julia Roberts is nominated for After The Hunt. I don’t know what it’s about, but I’m assuming the hunt was to find someone who’s seen it?”
