We look forward to award show season for a lot of reasons. It's a time to celebrate the talent we've seen over the last year, getting the chance to see some emotional acceptance speeches, major upsets and accolades for the previous year's box-office hits (Barbie and Oppenheimer were two of the biggest successes during summer 2023). But the thing that truly ties these annual award shows together? One heck of a host.
Although in previous years there have been some change-ups with hosts — the Academy Awards went without one back in 2019 — in addition to some controversies — I'm sure we don't need to remind you about the heated incident between Academy Awards 2022 host Chris Rock and Will Smith that spread on social media like wildfire — the 2024 award season seems to be following the traditional pattern of one host per show, starting with comedian Jo Koy who is set to host the 2024 Golden Globe Awards on January 7. And although the job is an honor in itself, eager viewers are left with lots of questions, most importantly — do the hosts themselves get paid? Here's everything we know about Jo Koy's first gig as an award show host.
Does Jo Koy get paid to host the 2024 Golden Globes?
The 52-year-old stand-up comedian and actor follows the likes of many famous funny folks who have hosted the gig before him, including Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Ricky Gervais, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Andy Samberg, who co-hosted with Greys' alum Sandra Oh.
Jo, who has four specials with Netflix and has two new confirmed ones hitting the streaming platform sometime later this year, according to Variety, will most likely be paid but the amount is currently unknown. According to Business Insider, different award shows call for higher minimums depending on the "star power" of the award show. For example, hosts for the Oscars typically make more money than one would for hosting the Grammys. That said, there's always been mixed rumors about what the going rate is.
A 2013 Vanity Fair article reported that "according to industry sources, the pay for awards-show hosts generally tops out in the low six-figures," with larger names, like comedians who have their own late-night shows, likely earning more. In years past, other hosts have revealed that they've sometimes paid as little as $15,000, as was the case for Jimmy Kimmel when he hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018. Due to the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, that is the minimum for the event that the host must be paid, but that's not a blanket number across the industry. A 2017 Forbes article reported that a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson told them that for the Grammys the minimum is even lower at only $5,000.
Last year, comedian Jerrod Carmichael was paid $500,000 for hosting the 2023 Golden Globes, a figure that he claimed was much higher than typical compensation. Jo, who was only asked on December 21, has only had a little over two weeks to prepare, so perhaps the last-minute request could bode for a big payday for him (typically hosts have months to prepare ahead of time). Nevertheless, we're looking forward to seeing a fresh face take the stage to kick off the awards season.
