Nikki Glaser says she plans to ramp up her celebrity roasts as she returns to host the 2026 Golden Globes — but one A-list star is off limits.
After the comedian won praise across the board for her hilarious monologue and balanced teasing during last year’s awards, she said her first thought upon being invited back to host the ceremony again was that she wanted to push the envelope farther with her jabs at stars throughout the glitzy night.
The 41-year-old stand-up, who is known for her history of ruthless Comedy Central roasts, toldYahoo she has spent weeks testing jokes in front of crowds at different Hollywood comedy clubs to prepare for Sunday’s performance, but learned a hard lesson along the way: audiences do not take kindly to jokes about Julia Roberts.
“No one wants you to make fun of America’s sweetheart,” Glaser said about Roberts, who is nominated for a Golden Globe this year for her performance in After The Hunt. “Not even the lightest, most innocent joke.”
She continued, “She is the most sacred of cows in America. I assumed that we want to protect her at all costs, but it’s as if I was joking about JonBenét [Ramsey]. [Audiences] were like, ‘This is not funny. We’re not going to laugh about it.’”
However, she does plan to mention Roberts during her time on-stage, but predicts that nailing it will be a challenge.
“You’ve got to mention her, and I can’t just fawn over her — that’s not fun,” Glaser explained to the outlet. “So what I do with her will be like walking a tightrope. It’s going to be like the hardest joke that I’ve ever written.”
Glaser made history during the 2025 Globes as the first woman to host the awards solo in the show’s 82-year history. On the morning after her hilarious performance, the comic debriefed her set on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show and said she cut 10 jokes from her monologue because they were “too mean.”
She also revealed that she had been paid less for the job than a previous male host, but shrugged it off and said that she would be paid more the next year.
During Sunday night’s awards, which will stream on Paramount+ at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Glaser will have a new audience to work with as many celebrities in attendance were not present at last year’s show. Aside from Roberts, other legendary actors expecting to be targeted during Glaser’s monologue include George Clooney, nominated for his performance in Jay Kelly, and Leonardo DiCaprio, nominated for his performance in One Battle After Another.
