A world made out of chocolate. Free Chanel clothes for life. A job offer as a show runner on Arrested Development. These are things that might make me as happy as news that the wonderful Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are to take over from the increasingly dreary Ricky Gervais as hosts of the Golden Globes – but not by much.
Not since the (sadly wrong) rumour last year that the Muppets might host the 2012 Oscars has there been such cause to be so excited about an awards show. This doesn't even have anything to do with the long overdue thrill of seeing a woman – heck, two women! – host a major awards show, because Fey and Poehler need no hat-tipping tokenism and their gender is the least exciting thing about them. They are, quite simply, great – full stop.
Fey is probably the better known of the two to UK audiences thanks to the huge success of 30 Rock and her memoir, Bossypants. But the two friends – and they really are very close, which makes watching the dynamics between them even more enjoyable – should be seen at the very least as equals. In fact, I must confess to being a bit more Team Poehler; she does not freight herself down with the kind of self-deprecation that all too frequently becomes Fey's schtick, plus she has appeared on Arrested Development, which will always get her extra points with me.
But Fey and Poehler would never condone this kind of unseemly contest between them, with people (ie, me) deciding which one they prefer, so I'll stop this nonsense now.
Fey always works best when she has someone to bounce off, such as Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock, and there is no one with whom she bounces better with than Poehler. The two women have worked together pretty much throughout their careers, from Saturday Night Live (highlights include Poehler playing Hillary Clinton to Fey's Sarah Palin) to their forays into film, Baby Mama and, of course, Mean Girls. The recently leaked tape of the two women practising the rap from the latter film, alongside a heartbreakingly happy and healthy-looking Lindsay Lohan, is a testament not just to how funny they are together, but how fun they are together. It has been a very, very long time since anyone's been able to say this with certainty, but this is going to be one great awards show.
