Hosting a major awards ceremony is a challenging task, where even the most charismatic individuals can falter when faced with a microphone and a packed audience of Hollywood elites.
Nikki Glaser, however, seems to excel in this environment. Once again, she hosted the Golden Globes on Sunday, marking her second consecutive year as the host.
She holds the distinction of being the first woman to single-handedly guide the chaotic ceremony. This year, she navigated the event with minimal cringe-worthy moments, taking playful jabs at celebrities like George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.
After the eventful night, Glaser shared insights on the risqué jokes that made it into the Golden Globes broadcast, while also revealing those that were cut by organizers.
The stand-up comedian poked fun at Hollywood’s biggest stars, from DiCaprio’s preference for younger partners to jokingly asking Clooney for assistance with her Nespresso machine, and humorously likening Sean Penn to a ‘sexy leather handbag.’
Even a joke about some attendees being on the Epstein list was included, but some prominent figures and sensitive topics were excluded from the final script.
In an appearance on *The Howard Stern Show* on Tuesday, Glaser explained that she deliberately avoided making jokes about the two most contentious issues in American politics since January 2025, specifically Trump and ICE, stating, ‘it’s not funny.’
“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 shared with Stern.
Considering the recent incident involving an ICE agent in Minnesota, Glaser felt it was inappropriate to include such a joke in the show.
She added: “It just felt like, oh, even that’s just being too trivial. … It’s hard to strike the right tone.”
While several celebrities, including Natasha Lyonne, Mark Ruffalo, and Wanda Sykes, wore badges and pins in protest of the political climate under President Trump, Glaser chose to avoid mentioning him altogether.
“You just don’t say that guy’s name right now,” she explained, noting that she had considered making a joke about the president renaming the venue, following his renaming of the Kennedy Center, but was advised against it by fellow comedian Steve Martin.
Howard Stern, known for his own controversial humor, commended Glaser’s topic choices at the Golden Globes and especially her decision to target the network airing the event.
“The award for most editing goes to CBS News. Yes. CBS news: America’s newest place to see B.S. news,” she quipped, referencing the channel’s acquisition by Trump allies in 2025.
So, who else was on Glaser’s list of jokes that didn’t make it to the final show?
“Chase Infiniti Payne is actually her real name. Chase Infiniti Payne, which is also how Sean Penn gets an erection.”
“Some people have stage names like ‘Hacks’ star Jean Smart, whose real name is Corderoy Dumbass.”
“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 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.”
“Everyone’s concerned about AI. Tilly Norwood is the first star to be completely generated by AI and somehow has still been sexually assaulted by three different studio execs.”
“Sean Penn is nominated tonight, I’m assuming for best neck veins?”
“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.”
“Amy Poehler is here for her podcast ‘Good Hang,’ which is what Timothée Chalamet says after sex.”
“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?”
“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.’”
“Jeff Goldblum is here tonight, not because he is nominated just because they were shooting an ad for Apartments.com down the street and he just kind of wandered in. Jeff doing ads for Apartments.com is hilarious. You haven’t lived in apartments since you were a fly.”
“‘Pluribus’ is nominated. Did you guys know that ‘Pluribus’ is Latin for ‘I haven’t seen it?’”