It has been a rough few years for the Golden Globe Awards, who have faced multiple scandals that have left the usually boozy celebrity hang embattled in bouts of public criticism and even took them off NBC’s airwaves in 2022.
Perhaps in an effort to broaden their appeal from simply being a pee-wee league Oscars, the organization behind the Globes (recently purchased by Dick Clark Productions) has added two new categories to their roster of film and TV prizes for their 2024 award presentation.
The first new designation, The Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, seems to revive the spirit of the much-maligned (and mercifully aborted) “Best Popular Oscar.” It will apparently honor movies that are both critically satisfactory and commercially successful, either in theaters or on streaming. This idea on its face reeks of manipulation, as if this bonus-gratis trophy is the only way to ensure that something the audience has at least seen a trailer for is guaranteed victory. It’s desperate — but also unnecessary, as box office mammoths like Oppenheimer and Barbie already seemed poised to win on merit alone. Less oxygen given to this category the better.
But the second new category is a bit more intriguing: a Golden Globe for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television. Variety, which broke this news exclusively, shares this winner could either be a traditional stand-up comic debuting a special on TV or streaming, or even be a “breakout comic” in a group, presumably to cover a stand-up premiering alongside other in a concert. While this surprise is a welcome one for long time followers of the art of telling jokes and deserves the requisite amount of kudos, it does invite some questions and unique considerations.
First, let’s put this in context for other award bodies in the entertainment ecosystem: The Oscars has long neglected comedy from consideration in top prizes, where the best a legendary comedian often can hope for is to sneak into a screenwriting category (Mel Brooks, Jordan Peele), settle for an honorary life time achievement prize presented off screen from the main telecast (Elaine May, Steve Martin, Groucho Marx) or dare to tread across genres and win your award for… drama (Robin Williams, Alan Arkin).
The Emmy Awards on the other hand have been perhaps over awarding their stand-up performances, which are eligible for honors via Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. That offers performers working a wide variety of venues and formats a chance to grab some gold.
Additionally of note, the Grammy Awards have been doling out a single statue for Best Comedy Album since 1959, and never has it been more closely aligned with stand-up on TV: the vast majority of the winners and nominees are merely submitting the audio from their TV specials for consideration. (This is a far cry from what used to win so often: musical comics like “Weird Al” Yankovic or P.D.Q. Bach, or even sketch comedy talents Stan Freberg and Vaughan Meador leading a full cast of voice over talent)
All of which is to say: the Golden Globes are not the first to merit stand-up comedy to annual glory, but are joining welcome company in a hopeful attempt to stand out from the award show pack.
But with this new swing, it’s worthy to ask directly: is this the right group of voters to accurately judge what makes good stand-up comedy? They might be. After all, these are voters tasked with evaluating a wide variety of types of cinema: heavy social and political dramas, CGI-laden spectacle films full of aliens and superheroes, and yes, even comedy — but often the wry indie variety, which may or may not feature jokes as funny as a terminal diagnosis.
Putting it bluntly on Twitter, landmark comedy director and forever aspiring stand-up comic Judd Apatow makes his assessment, posting “I can’t imagine a group of people who know less about comedy and stand up comedy voting on a best stand up award.” He’s right in many ways. This is a group that might not even be clear on what a comedy is – lest we forget that in 2015, their selection for best comedy prize did not go to Apatow’s own riotous Amy Schumer vehicle Trainwreck, but instead went to Ridley Scott’s Matt Damon space epic manhunt movie The Martian. That’s a fact quite literally funnier than anything in The Martian itself!
An obvious question to ask – how many different stand-up specials do we anticipate the nominating committee is going to watch? They’ve seemed to manage the 600 some-odd scripted series that are on the air annually for the TV considerations. Between the healthy output of stand-up content from streamers like Netflix, Max, Amazon, cablers like Comedy Central, and even independent producers like Comedy Dynamics and self-funded artists like Louis C.K., there are likely in the neighborhood of 200+ specials dropping each year to dig into.
Will they be willing to do the research to find diamonds in the rough, like the brand new release from Houston’s own Andy Huggins? Or should we expect nominates to follow the similar route of when Johnny Depp was nominated for his work in The Tourist, a movie with a mega-watt star that few critics even liked (21 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes)? Ideally, the Globes are going to recognize comics who are producing quality – and not just cherry picking the most famous faces to pad their tables.
But concerns notwithstanding, there are many exciting specials on the menu in 2023 so far – so some familiar names might be making their ways onto nomination ballots before too long. Chris Rock made headlines finally telling his side of the Will Smith Oscars spat in Netflix’s first live comedy broadcast Selective Outrage. John Mulaney came clean about his public messiness in the fully formed Baby J, also for Netflix. Maria Bamford, Wanda Sykes, Hannah Gadsby, Nate Bargatze, and Hari Kondabolu all have new hours hitting that screen that are worth a watch. And there are still some surprises to drop before New Years.
So hopefully for whoever gets the spotlight on nomination day, this new category translates to more excitement to not only watch stand-up from the comfort of the couch, but also encourages viewers to seek of the genuine article in the local clubs and converted comedy spaces, which remain the life blood of crafting a new act for the camera.
And at very least, if comedians are now going to be winning their very own Golden Globes, it should be much easier to book new and exciting joke smiths as hosts each year. Ricky Gervais, your long and fruitful watch as host has ended – let the dynasty of Mo Amer begin!
The next Golden Globe Award ceremony is currently set to air on Sunday, January 7, 2024, though no broadcast partner has been announced at this time.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
