Lloyd Bishop/NBCSeth Meyers knows pressure. Seth Meyers knows high expectations. And tonight, Seth Meyers knows success.
The stakes are always high for a Golden Globes host—especially after the bar set by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler—but at this year's award show they were astronomical. As the first big event after a 2017 marred by Hollywood scandal and horrible revelations about what women have been going through, the show would be setting the tone for the rest of the season. And the monologue would be setting the tone for the show.
The expectations (and, more seriously, the requirements) for a Golden Globes monologue were that it should be serious, but not depressing. Funny, but not insensitive. Insightful, but without neglecting the fact that the actual raison d'etre for the evening is to honor the incredible work that actors did over the course of the year. Just an easy task, right?
So in keeping with the tone, Meyers seemingly decided to skip the usual theatrics and the song-and-dance routine and opted to do what he does best: Stand up on the stage and deliver a funny, cutting monologue. Anyone who remembers his past White House Correspondents Dinner hosting gig will find a lot of familiar.
Meyers kicked things off by getting rid of any doubt as to whether he would be addressing the important topics at hand: "It's 2018 and marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't," he said to lead off his monologue. "This was the the year of big little lies and get out and also the television series Big Little Lies and the movie Get Out."
He also quickly acknowledged that it had been years since a white man was this nervous in Hollywood, adding that "For the male nominees in the room tonight, this is the first time in three months it won't be terrifying to hear your name read out loud."
The first-time Golden Globes host isn't afraid to take shots at pretty much anybody on his late-night talk show, so it was fitting that he took on this gig with the same fervor. The first to get the Meyers treatment was, of course, Harvey Weinstein.
"Harvey Weinstein isn't here tonight, because I've heard rumors that he's crazy and difficult to work with," he said to some jeers. "But don't worry, he'll come back in twenty years when he becomes the first person ever booed during the In Memoriam."
Next up on his hit list was Kevin Spacey.
"They're gonna do another season of House of Cards, is Christopher Plummer available for that?" Meyers asked. "I hope he can do a southern accent because Kevin Spacey sure couldn't."
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Meyers made a point ahead of this evening's big award show to let everyone know that he didn't want this year's sexual harassment discussions to completely overshadow the hard work of the actors that the event is technically meant to honor, so he also wrote in a fair amount of jokes about the movies and TV shows up for nomination—but not without some zingers thrown in.
"When I heard about a movie where a young woman falls in love with a disgusting sea monster," he began introducing The Shape of Water. "I thought, oh man, not another Woody Allen movie."
He also shouted out The Post, Get Out and Stranger Things, of which he said "It reminds me of my childhood, but just the part where a guy from Radio Shack dated my mom."
Meyers closed out his monologue on a more serious note, giving attention to the many activists who accompanied actresses to the award show.
"This may seem like a room of privileged Hollywood elite, but everyone in this room knows that Hollywood is so much more than that," he explained. "Most of the jobs on film sets are people who work long hours, they're American dream jobs. People in this room worked really hard to get here, but it's clearer now than ever before that the women had to work even harder. I look forward to letting you lead me into whatever comes next, so thank you so much for letting me say that."