Chelsea Handler didn’t hold back while hosting the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 14.
The 48-year-old comedian took playful jabs at numerous celebrities during her opening monologue, including at least one person who may have been watching from home.
Jo Koy, who wasn’t in attendance, was at the butt end of one of Chelsea’s jokes after she seemingly referenced him for calling out his writers when he hosted the 2024 Golden Globe awards on Jan. 7.
“I don’t know which one of you is hotter, you guys are total smoke shows,” she said, referring to Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro. “Unfortunately, Martin Scorsese isn’t here tonight, but that’s not going to stop me from letting everyone in this room know that I would toss him around like a little Italian meatball… Thank you for laughing at that. My writers wrote it,” she said, prompting extended applause from the audience.
That line seemingly referenced Jo’s “Barbie” joke that fell flat at Globes, which led the “Easter Sunday” star to quickly quip back at the audience.
“Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago,” Jo said on stage. “You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. Slow down. I wrote some of these and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
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View GalleryChelsea’s monologue kept everyone on their toes as she called out all of Hollywood—even Gwyneth Paltrow for her viral courtroom win.
“Women were victorious in all venues,” she said. “Barbie at the box office, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé on their tours, Gwyneth Paltrow at that ski trial.”
“Women show up and dominate our culture. You could almost say it was the year of women,” she added. “Women could say that. Bill Maher would say, ‘Is she still talking?'”
While championing women, Chelsea also took a swipe at Hollywood’s double standard towards female directors.
“While David Zaslav was wearing a zip-up vest and sailing off to St. Tropez, one very talented woman swooped in with a movie about female empowerment and saved the entire movie industry,” she said. “Which can only mean one thing, Hollywood executives are currently debating whether Greta [Gerwig] is worth taking a second chance on.”
That wasn’t the only dig she took at studio executives, earlier in her monologue she joked that they were “forced to vacation” for six months due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
And of course, Chelsea didn’t just joke about power players. She also noted a trend in film and television shows in 2023.
“In addition to being the year of women, let’s celebrate that 2023 was one of the horniest years for movies and TV,” she joked before calling out one of the “horniest movies” of the year, “Saltburn.”
“Barry Keoghan was horny for men, women, bath water, and cemeteries,” she said. “And by the way, Margot Robbie produced ‘Saltburn’ so you’re a dirty Barbie and I like it.”