Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser struggles with Julia Roberts and
Venezuela while building monologue
[January 08, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Golden Globes are fast approaching, and Nikki
Glaser is struggling to find a Julia Roberts joke.
“She’s been the toughest nut to crack,” Glaser, who's hosting Sunday's
Globes, said Tuesday with a determined laugh. “But I’m going to crack
it.”
The comedian got the hosting gig last year after showing her skill at
ruthlessly roasting celebrities. She got raves for her monologue. She
brought out the knives, but they weren’t overly sharp. She was promptly
asked back.
Sunday's monologue will be a shape-shifting monster until the moment the
CBS telecast starts and she takes the stage at the Beverly Hilton,
ideally with a bit ready for Roberts, who's nominated for best actress
in a drama for “After the Hunt.” She'll be sitting in front of Glaser
with her star-powered charm.
“I just want to do the perfect joke but it’s like people do not have a
sense of humor about Julia Roberts,” Glaser said in an interview with
The Associated Press. “She’ll be fine — other people are not fine on her
behalf. Like the most innocent joke about her that I made a couple times
trying it out, they booed, they were like jeering.”
Which stars Glaser plans to joke about during the Globes
For others, Glaser is confident in her material, and their ability to
take it, including the men in the absurdly star-studded best actor
categories:
— She’ll get another shot at Timothée Chalamet, nominated last year for
playing Bob Dylan and this year for “Marty Supreme”: “Timothée, he’s
great. He knows how to handle it,” she said. Last year, she told a
mustachioed Chalamet: “You have the most gorgeous eyelashes — on your
upper lip.”
— She’ll get her first chance to poke at George Clooney, nominated for
“Jay Kelly”: “George Clooney’s going to be exciting to just have any
kind of interaction with. I think he’s such a good sport,” she said.
“He's down for it.’”
— She's says she's excited about her stuff on “Sinners” nominee Michael
B. Jordan.
— And what about Leonardo DiCaprio, representing awards season
powerhouse “One Battle After Another?” “Leo? Leo, yeah, Leo. We’re going
to hit Leo,” she said. “The icebergs are coming. Watch out.”
Taking the monologue to the clubs
Glaser spoke to the AP while wearing a gown and fur coat on a mock New
York street at a CBS studio lot where she's prepping.
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Nikki Glaser arrives at the 82nd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 5,
2025, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
 But the real preparation has been
happening at Southern California's comedy clubs.
“I’ve been running the jokes constantly,” she said. “I live and die
by those crowds. They really tell me what to keep and what not to.
Things that I think will kill will just be nothing and things that I
think are just a throwaway are like the best joke.”
She shares one that she dumped.
“I was going to make a joke about ‘Pluribus’ where I said like,
‘Have you seen it? Pluribly not,’” she said. “But we could not find
a place for ‘pluribly not’ and so that one is in the graveyard.
Probably rightfully so.”
Because the monologue is directed, roast-style, at the people in the
Globes crowd, the comedy club audience has to play celebrity roles.
She’ll ask them, “'Will you play Julia Roberts for me?' You know,
like it is, it’s strange, but I kind of just set it up. Like I’m
hosting the Golden Globes. They’re usually very excited about that.”
The Venezuela question
Like every awards show host, she's wary that some major current
event will upend everything. During the past weekend, she thought
she certainly would have to talk about Venezuela onstage. Now she
thinks maybe not.
“You can’t even anticipate things a week away as being relevant
enough,” she said. “You’d be surprised that half the room had no
clue why I was saying ‘Venezuela.’ People aren’t getting the news
like we all are.”
Last year's version of the Julia Roberts problem was “Wicked,” and
finding a joke that rode the line between meanness and affection. It
took a long time, but she and the two friends she writes with found
it.
“It ended up being perfect. I loved it,” she said, repeating the
line. “'My boyfriend loved it, my boyfriend’s boyfriend loved it.'
Perfect ‘Wicked’ joke. Wasn’t too mean, just celebrated the
gayness.”
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