Michael Che tells comedians to stop hosting awards shows

Last Updated on January 12, 2024

After Jo Koy’s disastrous hosting gig at this Sunday’s Golden Globes – which seemingly left the majority of viewers and attendees stone-faced (we see you, T Swift!) – it might be as good of a time as any to ask, What exactly do we want in a host? Sure, he had less than three weeks to get ready for the night, but Koy was not the answer. Now, Saturday Night Live cast member Michael Che is calling for a boycott from his fellow comedians to ignore any requests to host awards shows.

Taking to Instagram following the Golden Globes, Michael Che wrote that the thankless job of MCing such shows can only fail due to celebrity egos. “for one, its very difficult to make stars laugh. theyre way too self conscious to have a good time. two, they dont even WANT to laugh. theyre too busy thinking about their careers and their speeches and their “cause”..they THINK they wanna be made fun of, but they actually dont. they actually just want their trophy. and a nice photo.” (Interestingly, the post has since been deleted and the word “hacked.” is in his bio. It appears this is left over from a previous incident, as he said he was hacked following a 2021 post that made an insensitive joke about Olympian Simone Biles.)

Michael Che also noted that Hollywood has a general disregard for comedians, as demonstrated in the lack of comedy actors nominated at the Academy Awards. He continued, “so they expect us to host the oscars but wont even nominate us? fuck that. get a magician!” As far as if Che would ever actually host the Oscars…sure, if he’s asked!

Of note, Michael Che co-hosted (with Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost) the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, which had the lowest ratings of any Emmys at that time.

Traditionally, the Academy Awards do have a comedian as host, with Jimmy Kimmel slated for his fourth stint this year. And while someone outside of that realm could certainly handle it, we do have doubts considering the lousy outing from James Franco and Anne Hathaway in 2011. Another route would be going without a host altogether, something the Academy tried out again from 2019-2021, their first attempt at this since the 1989 ceremony.

What do you think makes a good awards show host? Give us the top attributes in the comments section below.