Sawt Falasteen - Jo Koy to host Golden Globes awards show

The stand-up, who starred in "Easter Sunday" and Disney's "Haunted Mansion," said he was excited to be overseeing the party that kicks off three months of movie industry ceremonies.

"I've stepped onto a lot of stages around the world in my career, but this one is going to be extra special," he said.

"This is that moment where I get to make my Filipino family proud."

The Golden Globes is hoping its 81st edition will be something of a reboot for a brand that has spent the last few years in Tinseltown's doghouse.

A 2021 Los Angeles Times expose showed that the awards' voting body -- the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- had no Black members.

That revelation triggered the airing of a wide range of other long-simmering criticisms about the HFPA, including allegations of amateurism and corruption.

Earlier this year, the awards' assets and trademarks were purchased and overhauled by a group of private investors including US billionaire Todd Boehly, and the HFPA was disbanded.

Hollywood-based former HFPA members have been banned from accepting gifts, and are now paid a salary to vote for their favorite films and shows.

More than 200 non-member (and unpaid) voters from 75 countries around the world have also been added to the Globes mix.

This month organizers revealed "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" -- the unlikely pair of films that dominated the box office and spawned countless internet memes this summer -- topped its nominations.

The two blockbusters -- collectively dubbed "Barbenheimer" after their theatrical releases happened to fall on the same date -- now have a strong start to Hollywood's film awards season, which ends with the Oscars in March.

Other movies that proved popular with Globes voters were "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Poor Things," both earning seven nominations, and "Past Lives" with five.

One of the United States' biggest national television networks, CBS, has stepped in to become the new home of the Globes, after long-standing host NBC ended its deal to broadcast the event.

CBS bosses will be hoping for vastly improved ratings, after the 2023 Globes slumped to a new low of just 6.3 million viewers, even as other shows such as the Oscars recovered from pandemic viewership nadirs.

Other nominees include Universal's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and Marvel superhero film "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone are also in the mix, as are Paul Giamatti ("The Holdovers"), Timothee Chalamet ("Wonka"), Natalie Portman ("May December") and Bradley Cooper -- as both actor and director of "Maestro."

The 81st Golden Globes ceremony will take place in Beverly Hills on January 7.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST