Saturday Night Live alumni Tina Fey and Amy Poehler seen here in 2008 at the New York premiere of another of their collaborative projects, Baby Mama. COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. PHOTO BY DAVID SHANKBONE.
Comedic comrades to co-host award show
By Lisa Gillan
Comedic duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will reunite to entertain the masses for a night of celebration next January.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Monday the comediennes will emcee the 70th annual Golden Globes set to take place Jan. 13 in Beverly Hills.
Fey has won a number of Globes for her work with the TV show 30 Rock and Poehler was nominated this past year for her work on the series Parks and Recreation.
“It was a great move. They’re very funny together,” Rob Salem, a Toronto Star TV critic and columnist who is also a television writing and production teacher at Humber College, said in an interview on Tuesday.
“I was also getting really sick of Ricky Gervais,” he said in reference to the host for the last three years.
Salem said he is not a fan of the Golden Globes, which he said are all about “the Hollywood Foreign Press riding the gravy train,” rather than being based on any sort of merit.
According to its website, the HFPA is a group of about 90 international journalists who cover movie and telelvision news, “famous for starting and continuing to co-produce the annual Golden Globe Awards … and for its philanthropic activities.”
In 2011 the foreign press organization came under scrutiny because of a lawsuit filed by its former head publicist, Michael Russell.
The Hollywood Reporter said that the allegations included charges “that HFPA members accept lavish vacations, junket lodging, gifts and other perks provided by studios in exchange for support in nominating particular films” and “accepting payment from studios and producers for ‘representing’ films and lobbying other HFPA members for Golden Globe nominations and awards.”
Salem said the choice of the two funny women was a great strategic move for the ceremony and its organizers.
Ailene Tam, a first year massage therapy student at Humber who occasionally watches award shows said she thinks the duo will be hilarious.
Tam said she can’t remember the last time she watched the Golden Globes but she’ll definitely be tuning in this year to catch the antics of the two SNL alums.
“They’re funny characters to begin with and they’re very entertaining to watch,” she said.