by NOEL D. FERRER
After the backlash for his Golden Globes hosting gig, Jo Koy admits, “It’s a tough room.” In a television interview, he reflected on the challenges, even citing a last-minute preparation crash course. Jo defended his performance, mentioning the limited time he had to craft his monolog.
After a week of harsh bashing especially on social media, and some critics still unforgiving, Jo acknowledged the criticism, saying, “I would be lying if I said it doesn’t hurt.” The comedian would have realized the unique demands of hosting, emphasizing it’s a different style from stand-up.
Jo bluntly stated, “That’s a tough gig. I’m not going to lie.”
Sifting through the noise, we particularly wanted to highlight two personalities – esteemed hosts/comedians in their own right, whose views resonated with ours.
First, DJ-events host Sam YG who zeroed in on Jo’s and the critics’ statements – point by point.
YES. Hosting is a tough job. Most events are live: there are no take twos. You have to think on your toes and be able to stretch a program on a fly.
NO. Not all stand up comedians are hosts and not all hosts are stand-up comedians in as much as not all basketball players can swim and not all swimmers can play basketball. They may be in the same arena but they have different skill sets.
YES. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. With a big ticket event like the Golden Globes, the pressure is on: either you make it or break it. Jo had the balls to take this gig but we also hope his team knew the risks of doing something out of his zone.
NO. We don’t think it’s fair to blame writers (with all due respect to every writer/producer/director and everybody who works behind the event scene).
As the host and team leader, sadly, ultimately, you are responsible for the quality of the jokes you’re delivering. Like what Spot.ph critic Andrew Paredes said, “If you think only your jokes are hilarious, then you can veto everybody else’s contributions, write the entire monologue yourself, and take responsibility for it.” Lesson learned: next time, don’t absolve yourself of any blame. We think the monolog started to go downhill only when Jo confronted the crowd and then immediately apologized for not receiving the reaction he’d expected. Like another writer Jade Mark Capiñanes put it, “(we) would have admired him more if he hadn’t cared at all and just stuck to his guns.”
YES. Humor/jokes are subjective. Some will find you funny, some will not and that’s the way it is. And yes, comedy is extra hard these days.
YES. We’re a fan of Jo Koy’s stand up comedy. We’ve watched and appreciated his material and followed his career from way back. He acknowledged that he bombed and that itself takes guts.
Even the best of the best have their good days and bad days.
NO. We don’t think this will be the end of his career. He’s been a hustler from the get go. We sure hope he bounces back from this.
YES. People will easily be behind you when you’re on top and only your true friends will back you up even when your back’s against the wall.
Lastly, no matter who you are and what you do, there will always be setbacks.
But also, every setback is an opportunity to come back stronger, wiser and more determined than ever.
Our good friend, comedy genius Michael V. has also given his two cents on Jo Koy’s viral jokes at the Golden Globe Awards.
Bitoy described Jo’s jokes as “funny, direct, and pretty much self-explanatory.”
“The last thing [he] should be doing is trying to explain it to people who purposely choose not to understand and appreciate them,” he added, even tagging the beleaguered Filipino-American stand-up comic.
Oh Jo Koy, yes, there are valuable lessons to be learned from your Golden Globes gig, but we will still look forward to your next show!
