Jimmy Fallon Hosts Awkward and Politically Driven 74th Golden Globes

Grace Donovan

January 30, 2017

At award shows, discomfort can easily encompass the room when watching somebody trip on stage only to go on and awkwardly stumble through their acceptance speech. The 74th Annual Golden Globes was certainly no exception as it kicked off the 2017 award season with its fair share of awkward moments; however, the attendees found themselves the least of everyone’s worries with the majority of cringe-worthy moments coming instead from the people putting on the show—including first-time host: Jimmy Fallon.

After a “trying-too-hard-to-be-funny” pre-recorded intro, in which Fallon planned an elaborate dance with pal, Justin Timberlake, to parody the seven-time nominated musical “La La Land,” the show continued off to a shaky start when the teleprompter suffered technical difficulties during the opening monologue. Fallon’s Golden Globes debut was nothing short of awkward as he was left alone to improvise his monologue.

Rather than bring his own humor to the stage, Fallon resorted to his impersonation skills—breaking into a full-fledged Chris Rock impression. As he imitated Rock, Fallon joked about how nobody, from the five-time nominated series “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” would be thanking OJ if they won tonight. While Fallon’s awkward moments were definitely the most notable, there were many cringe-worthy blunders before the show even began.

On the red carpet, NBC’s “Today” show correspondent, Jenna Bush Hager, confused “Hidden Figures” with “Fences” while interviewing singer Pharrell about his nomination for “Hidden Fences.” Despite her embarrassing mistake, which was attacked on social media, Michael Keaton later made the same flub on stage as he read the nominees for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.

The red carpet mishaps did not stop there, Al Roker awkwardly mistook Justin Timberlake’s wife Jessica Biel for Jessica Alba while talking to the couple, and as if all of these mistakes were not enough, Natalie Morales wrongly associated Jeffrey Tambor with the show “Transgender”—when he is actually from “Transparent.”

After too many cringe-worthy moments, Tracee Ellis Ross finally put a plug in the awkwardness as she shined with her effortless stage presence. Winning for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series (musical or comedy), Ross proved herself to be extremely comfortable up on stage, even sharing her age of 44 years old—talking with the sort of comforting charisma the night needed. Coming from the show “Black-ish,” Ross dedicated her award to “all of the women, women of color, and colorful people.”

Despite Fallon’s desperate opening monologue attempts, he found more success with other politically based jokes—opening the door for others to follow suit.

Fallon earned many laughs by recognizing the Golden Globes as “one of the few places where America still honors the popular vote” (despite the fact that the winners are voted for by the Hollywood Foreign Press). His remark about the Russian hacking scandal was also well received as Fallon confirmed that the votes were counted by “Ernst & Young & Putin.” However, Fallon was not the only one who used the Globes as a platform to comment on the election.

Hugh Laurie did not shy away from sharing his opinions when he won best supporting actor for “The Night Manager.” The Brit earned many laughs when he predicted how these may be the last Golden Globes as “it has the words Hollywood, Foreign, and Press in the title.” He apologized for his “gloomy” outlook but nonetheless stated that some republicans even feared the word “association.”

Later in the night, Meryl Streep piggy-backed on some of Laurie’s comments when she took home the Cecile B. DeMille Award—which included a reflective montage Streep’s film success, in which she was honored as “the most celebrated actress of our time.”

When Streep took to the stage, the majority of her acceptance speech was based around “one performance this year that stunned” her—and not in a good way. “It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter,” said Streep, “Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back.”

Through her speech, Streep, intentionally and effectively, tied in Hollywood, foreigners, and the press while simultaneously using the platform to take jabs at Trump. Choking up at the end, Streep dedicated her award to Carrie Fisher: “As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once, take your broken heart, make it into art.”

Even with a fair share of awkward moments, many big winners took the Golden Globes stage including “La La Land,” which dominated the night with a record-breaking seven wins. Despite the film’s big win, critics are questioning if the musical will be able to hold its own at the Oscars. Kicking off the 2017 award show season, the Golden Globes leaves audiences anticipating who will win at The Academy Awards.

Best Motion Picture: Drama

Moonlight

Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

La La Land

Best Performance by An Actress in a Motion Picture: Drama

Isabelle Huppert – Elle

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama

Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

Emma Stone – La La Land

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy

Ryan Gosling – La La Land