Steve Martin has a political joke he hoped Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser would tell on Sunday—but it’s not likely to be heard on the broadcast, at least for now.
Glaser, who’s busy promoting the big show and her second turn at the hosting gig, told The Hollywood Reporter that Martin shared the joke with her through one of her writers, before thinking the better of it: “He said afterwards, ‘Actually, tell her: Don’t do that joke. That’s too far.’ And he was right. I did love the joke, but I don’t think I could say that.”
Pressed further on what the joke was about, Glaser revealed that it was almost certainly about President Trump. “It wasn’t really dirty or anything. It was just a political joke that probably isn’t right for the show,” she explained. “But I love that he corrected and was like, ‘Tell her, actually don’t do that joke.’”
Martin previously took the opportunity to take a shot at Donald Trump during his opening monologue on SNL50 last February.
“It was only a few days ago that Lorne [Michaels] told me I was doing the monologue, and I was actually vacationing on a friend’s boat down in the Gulf of Steve Martin,” he said at the start of the show, referencing Trump’s controversial Gulf renaming executive order. He also called out the administration when he joked about calling ICE on his Canadian-born comedy buddy, Martin Short.
Glaser is going into her second year as emcee, fresh off rave reviews for her performance last year. Glaser told THR that she has mixed feelings about looking back on it. “Damn, I kind of nailed it,” she said she thought when she finally watched it back. “And it scares me, because that was kind of lightning in a bottle.”
“I got really lucky with some of the nominees. Everything worked out. So it’s a high bar. I’m kind of screwed,” she added.
Glaser told CBS Mornings on Tuesday that while she has no qualms about poking fun at the celebrity guests who are younger than her, this year’s audience will have more of the A-listers she grew up with, adding a whole new challenge for her. For example, Glaser’s still trying to pin down a homerun joke about Julia Roberts, who will be in attendance at the Globes this year following her nomination for her role in After the Hunt.
“I’m trying out my monologue around L.A., at the clubs here, and just even any joke about Julia Roberts, they are not there for,” she explained. “You cannot make fun of America’s Sweetheart. So, that is my—whatever I end up saying about her, that is the most fine-tuned joke that I’ve worked on so hard, because it is very delicate.”
As for politics, Glaser mostly swore it off ages ago. “You just are scared that you’re going to get doxxed and death threats or who knows where this leads—like, detained” when you roast politicians, she said last year.
“It’s a real fear,” she explained at the time. “It’s unfortunate that that’s true, but I’m not going to lie and say I don’t think about that sometimes and go, ‘Oh, god.’ Can I just say, I hope they all know, I can be up on the gallows and say, ‘I was just joking. I’m a comedian.’ I hope that that’s a defense.”
