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“The stakes have never been lower,” quipped Tina Fey in the lead up to the 78th Golden Globe Awards. Today, the annual awards season kicked off amid the deadly pandemic. While the event is wrought with controversy surrounding its lack of diversity – particularly amongst this year’s nominations – we couldn’t help but look forward to Fey and Amy Poehler’s opening monologue. The on-screen power duo appeared at the virtual event from opposite coastlines to deliver 10 minutes of much-need humour.
“I’m Tina Fey, coming to you from the beautiful Rainbow Room in New York City, where indoor dining and outdoor muggings are back,” Fey said.
“Yes, and I am Amy Poehler here at the Beverly Hilton, District 7, New Angeles, and this is the 78th annual hunger games,” Poehler said.
“Golden Globes,” Fey corrected her.
With a nod to the pandemic and time spent at home in a new norm – Zoom meetings, virtual events, viral TikTok videos and the fact that we’d prefer to binge five hours of television because a whole film is “two hours” – Fey and Poehler addressed controversy around the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
“We all know that awards shows are stupid,” says Fey. “They’re all a scam invented by Big Red Carpet, to sell more carpet.
“The point is, with stupid things, inclusivity is still important and there are no black members of the Hollywood Foreign Press. I realise HFPA, maybe you didn’t get the memo because your workplace is the back booth of a French McDonalds, but you’ve got to change that.”
The duo share roughly 4,000 kilometres between each other, Fey is hosting from the Rainbow Room in Los Angeles with Poehler stationed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The pair appeared on separate red carpets in daring, all-black numbers – a far cry from their past glitzy gowns. They shared the stage in a split screen and delivered their lines seamlessly.
Speaking to NBC last week, the Mean Girls star described the socially-distant event with her famous friend as “the world’s most expensive Zoom drink.”
The host with the most, Amy Poehler, is ready for her (fourth) time to shine at tonight's #GoldenGlobes! pic.twitter.com/974g0vHCCj
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021
It was a light-hearted touch to a devastating 12 months with a number of frontline and essential workers making up the live audience in both New York City and Los Angeles. The Golden Globes has a starkly different vibe this year – it is notoriously the most rowdy event of the season – with stars now confined to their homes or flashy hotel rooms. There is no Jack Nicholson (allegedly high) or Renee Zellweger who missed her award while she was in the bathroom. But we have Fey and Poehler.
According to the New York Times, Coronavirus in the US is still killing 2000 people a day. We’ll leave it to the fearless frontline staff to enjoy the evening – they deserve it.
Fey and Poehler last appeared together for the awards ceremony in 2015.
For rolling coverage of the 2021 Golden Globes, keep up with us here.
