There are many positive things you can say about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler—that they’re hilarious, that they’ve been guiding lights behind some of the best comedies of the last several years, that they’ve never allowed themselves to be photographed while bloodily “crucified” on a mic stand and wearing a literal crown of thorns—but their tenure as co-hosts of the Golden Globes has got to be pretty high on the list. The former SNL duo helmed the ceremony for three years straight, from 2013 to 2015, offering up a mixture of comedy and commentary without somehow also descending into the death fugue of smugness that has consumed some of the event’s other, more recent, more Ricky Gervais-ish hosts.
(Ah, the past, when a Hollywood award show producer could cut from Kevin Spacey laughing to Jeffrey Tambor laughing without a care in the world.)
Apparently hoping to clear the lingering echoes of “Oy, I’m just speakin’ the truth, then, ain’t I?” from the annual ceremony’s traditional venue at the Beverly Hilton, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced today that Poehler and Fey will be back to serve as hosts at next year’s ceremony. The news comes even as the Oscars continues to throw up its hands, Cathy-esque, at the possibility of finding any adequate host for its big event. (“A comedian who’s never refused to make even a pro-forma apology for a homophobic joke? Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, aack!”)
Fey and Poehler previously cited the law of diminishing returns as their reason for stepping down from hosting the event, but then it turned out that the returns just kept on diminishing regardless of whether they were involved in it or not, so hey, here we are. There’s no official date set for next year’s Globes, but as a the big kick-off event for Los Angeles’ awards season, they almost always arrive within the first week or so of the year.