Best and Worst Moments From the 2025 Golden Globes
The New York Times
From Nikki Glaser’s monologue and wins for “Emilia Pérez” and “The Brutalist,” it was downhill to all those pharmaceutical ads.
The bar wasn’t set very high for the Golden Globes on Sunday night. After last year’s host, Jo Koy, memorably bombed, the emcee this year, Nikki Glaser, could hardly do worse. But she wasn’t content to merely do better. After workshopping her opening monologue in dozens of club appearances over the holidays, she killed when it counted, cracking up the stars on hand at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., and winning over viewers on social media. The rest of the night went more or less smoothly, with a mix of expected and surprise winners. But it wouldn’t be an awards ceremony if there weren’t some truly off-kilter moments. Here are the highs and lows as we saw them.
When Glaser began putting together her Golden Globes monologue in early December, she told her writing staff, “Don’t be scared to be weird.”
You saw evidence of this in her stellar monologue on Sunday, which included the kind of hard punchlines she is known for, including a good insult of Paramount+ and a joke about the effect of Sean Combs’s arrest on the after-party. But there was also an impression of Adam Sandler pronouncing Timothée Chalamet’s name that was just pure silliness — Sandler even joined in. Glaser doesn’t usually do impressions, but she committed and it went over really well, adding to the celebratory, fun tone to kick the night off.
If there was a joke that crushed in every test run, it was probably when she mentioned a few nominees: “‘Wicked,’ ‘Queer,’ ‘Nightbitch,’” then added “Not just things Ben Affleck yells after sex.” On Sunday, it killed again. — Jason Zinoman
Read more on Nikki Glaser and her preparation for the show.
Glaser’s night started on the red carpet with a billowing strapless gold ball gown. For her first onstage appearance, she changed into a sequined silver sleeveless gown. By 8:30, she was on her third dress of the night. An hour into the ceremony, she was on Dress No. 5 (a sequined pink sleeveless stunner). By the end of the night, she had donned what seemed like 47 more. All that was missing? We’d have loved to see a dupe of Demi Moore’s viral yellow “Substance” coat. — Sarah Bahr
