Jo Koy ‘in the mood to celebrate’ as Golden Globes host

Jo Koy will be fulfilling a childhood dream as host of the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

“I’m now living something that I would watch as a kid,” the stand-up comedian said, “something that indirectly inspired me to do what I do, seeing everyone from Bob Hope to Billy Crystal to Whoopi Goldberg do the Oscars, and Ricky [Gervais] and Tina [Fey] doing the Globes. Now, I’m in the captain’s seat and I’m loving it.”

The star of six Netflix specials (four streamable now, two more in the works) will be front and center at the ceremony airing live at 7 p.m. Sunday on WBBM-Channel 2 and streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime. The traditionally laid-back, celeb-studded affair is just coming out of a scandal and is on a mission to recapture its pre-Oscars glory.

In 2021, a Los Angeles Times report revealed the lack of diversity among the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presented the Globes. Boycotts eventually led to the Globes turning into a for-profit entity and a new deal with CBS.

“Look, I don’t feel I’m taking over [the hosting spot] from anyone. I am just planning to be me, and I’m in the mood to celebrate,” says Koy, 52, whose comedy specials often find him riffing pleasantly and hilariously on cultural differences (he’s part Filipino on his mother’s side and grew up in Seattle).

“We just came off a horrific time in Hollywood. It was rough out here, from the pandemic to the strikes. We weren’t sure it was coming back,” Koy says. “Our job is to entertain people, and now we’re giving out awards for that — are you kidding me? So, yeah, there’s no reason to be mad about anything.”

Asked if the $500,000 gift bags that go to the show’s presenters and winners will get a bit of skewering, Koy starts nodding.

“$500,000, bro, and you’re upset about something? You better chill!” he says. “I mean, you’re a celebrity, do you really need all this stuff? So to be sure, I’ll call out all of that and remind people how good we got it.”

He recognizes that this hosting gig is about as big a boost as a comedian can get. “Stand-up is the hardest job in show business, so to get this type of moment to do your thing is beautiful.”

Koy says he’s grateful that the Globes is an informal awards celebration compared with the amped glamour of the Oscars. That plays to his ability to keep things low-key and funny.

“Man, we’re at the Beverly Hilton,” he says with a laugh. “This isn’t some big fancy theater with eight balconies. It’s literally a convention room.”

And whom does he want to meet among the A-list crowd? The question is barely asked when Koy cuts in.

“Simple: Mr. Steven Spielberg,” says Koy, citing one of the producers of the 2022 comedy “Easter Sunday,” which starred Koy in a fictional version of his immigrant-son life.

“I’m an Amblin guy, a DreamWorks guy, I’m a ‘Goonies’ guy — ‘Hook,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ all that stuff is my childhood,” he says. “[Spielberg] helped get my movie made, and he’ll be in that room. I mean, come on, bro, you don’t think I’m going to walk right up to him?”

Mr. Spielberg, you’ve been warned: Beware of an incoming bear hug.

Read more at USAToday.com.