‘Toughest gig’: Steve Martin defends Jo Koy’s Golden Globes Awards stint, calls it 'a very difficult job'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Steve Martin praised Jo Koy for hosting the 2024 Golden Globes Awards, despite the huge backlash he received from the audience, critics and even celebrities. 

Martin, who has hosted the Academy Awards three times, said he admired anyone who took on the challenge of hosting a live awards show.

Jo Koy gets support from fellow comedians

Martin, 78, posted a message of support for Koy, 52, on Threads Tuesday, writing, “I tip my hat to anyone who steps out on stage to host a live awards show.”

“It’s a very difficult job and not for the squeamish,” Martin added. “I know because I’m still throwing up from the last time I did it in 2010," he continued.

Martin also congratulated Koy for taking on the "toughest gig" for being “light on his feet” and having “twenty minutes of new material for his stand up” after the show.

Koy, was announced as the Globes’ host on December 21, just a few weeks before the ceremony.

He faced some awkward moments during the show as some of his jokes fell flat or offended celebrities like Taylor Swift and others in the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, January 7.

Whoopi Goldberg and Greta Gerwig empathize with Jo Koy

Martin was not the only celebrity who sympathized with Koy’s hosting gig. Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the Academy Awards four times, said on 'The View Monday' that “these hosting gigs are brutal — just brutal," according to People.

“If you don’t know the room, if you’ve not been in these rooms before and you’re sort of thrust out there. It’s hit or miss,” she said.

“Now I love Jo Koy. He, to me, makes me just crazy because he’s funny. I don’t know whether it was the room. I don’t know whether it was the jokes. I didn’t get to see it,” Goldberg, 68, continued. “But I do know that he is as good as it gets when it comes to standups. That is not an easy game," she further said.

Greta Gerwig, the filmmaker of the blockbuster movie 'Barbie',  also defended Koy’s joke about her film being based “on a plastic doll with big boobies.”

Gerwig, 40, said on BBC Radio 4 Today on Wednesday, January 10, “Well, he’s not wrong. She’s the first doll that was mass produced with breasts, so he was right on."

Jo Koy says he wants to host again

Despite the mixed reviews, Koy told the publication on Monday that he would “love to” host the Golden Globe Awards again if he had more time to prepare.

He said the highlight of his night was “just walking out there [on stage] for the first time."

“I was like, let’s just do this. Let’s just have fun,” he shared.