It takes two
FEY AND POEHLER. Give-and-take is the new hit hosting team’s game. AP
Last year, the new awards show-hosting team of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler clicked with viewers at the Golden Globes, so they were tapped to do the honors again at last Monday’s rites.
Some Hollywood veterans expected them to slip and slide, since show biz lightning rarely strikes twice in a row—but, Tina and Amy proved their fearful or cynical detractors wrong by hitting another bullseye!
What makes them click as a stand-up and hosting team? They both honed their comedic gift for many years on the iconic “Saturday Night Live” show before carving out separate careers for themselves as solo and now “duo” performers.
Tina was the first to strike TV gold with her hit series, (“30 Rock”), which she both starred in and scripted, and Amy eventually also made it via her own sitcom, “Parks & Recreation.” Catching up with her more successful show biz “sister” this year, Amy won as Best Comedy Actress last Monday, on top of scoring cohosting raves.
Having worked together for so long on “SNL,” Tina and Amy have mastered the art and craft of creative give-and-take. When push comes to shove, however, it’s clear that, despite her spanking-new Best Comedy Actress trophy, Amy is still playing second-fiddle to Tina’s more ascendant star.
Second stint
Even their second stint as Golden Globes award rites hosts indicated this: They both got in their individual zingers as they roasted the stars in attendance—but, it was Tina who got to punch the funniest line of the evening:
It was her playful dig at George Clooney, who’s known for dating (much) younger women. Tina speculated that, in “Gravity,” the astronaut character Clooney played “would rather float away in space and die than spend one more minute with a woman (Sandra Bullock) his own age!”
The spot-on dig was greeted with a roar of laughter, and it’s likely that it’ll end up in the comedy punch-line books from here on in.
The fact that Tina isn’t just a versatile performer but also writes her own material gives her an edge over many of her contemporaries.
As for Amy, she wasn’t completely upstaged last Monday, because she got her own comedic licks in—as Tina’s surly teenage son, who sneered “his” way to where the audience members were seated, and proceeded to look for his “unknown” father—to viewers’ delight!
So, that’s it: Give-and-take is the new hit hosting team’s game, and they’re very good at it—so good that they’ve already been signed to make it a three-fer next year.
Very dryly and pragmatically, Tina saw the “three-peat” feat as just the way things went in La-La-land: “This is Hollywood. If something kind of works, they’ll just keep doing it—until everyone hates it!”
Was she referring to sequels, prequels, the overstaying “American Idol,” and “Glee” and other tired oldies but still profitable goodies that just keep churning out new seasons or productions until they’re forced to call it quits? —You can bet that, after next year’s rites, Tina and Amy won’t be making the same mistake!
