Whoopi Goldberg Defends Jo Koy’s Golden Globe Performance on The View: ‘These Hosting Gigs Are Brutal’

“I do know that he is as good as it gets when it comes to standups,” said the four-time Oscars host

Whoopi Goldberg is defending Golden Globes 2024 host Jo Koy.

Koy, 52, received mixed to negative reviews for his performance during Sunday night’s award show. Goldberg, 68, sympathized with the comedian during the Monday episode of The View.

Goldberg, who has hosted the Academy Awards four times (1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002), explained how “these hosting gigs are brutal — just brutal.”

“If you don’t know the room, if you’ve not been in these rooms before and you’re sort of thrust out there. It’s hit or miss,” she said.

“Now I love Jo Koy. He, to me, makes me just crazy because he’s funny. I don’t know whether it was the room. I don’t know whether it was the jokes. I didn’t get to see it,” Goldberg continued. “But I do know that he is as good as it gets when it comes to standups. That is not an easy game.”

Whoopi Goldberg during Jan. 8, 2024 episode of “The View.”.THE VIEW/ YOUTUBE

The EGOT winner poked fun at her own former hosting experiences, “If you read any of the reviews of some the gigs that I’ve had [laughs] where they’ve just you know, whisked me into the cornfield  [laughs] to die on the vine. I mean, it’s not an easy gig.”

Jo Koy at the 81st Golden Globe Awards on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.

SONJA FLEMMING/CBS VIA GETTY

As Goldberg continued to defend the standup comedian, her View co-host, Sara Haines, added that she loves Koy and was “nervous for him.”

Alyssa Farah Griffinalso shared her affection for the comedian, adding how he’s “one [of her] favorite guests” on The View. Griffin also speculated, “I think that he’s such an inherently nice person that doing more of a roast is not natural for him.”

While a couple of Koy’s jokes received frosty responses, he told PEOPLE he’d “love to” host the awards show again. “With five months, not nine days,” said Koy. CBS announced he would be hosting in a Dec. 21 press release.

During the opening monologue, Koy went off-script and blamed his short preparation time. “Yo, I got this 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me. Right? Slow down,” he said from the stage. “I wrote some of these and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

Jo Koy at the 81st Golden Globe Awards on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.

RICH POLK/GOLDEN GLOBES 2024/GOLDEN GLOBES 2024 VIA GETTY

Koy’s quick diversion followed his jokes about the evening’s later winners, Oppenheimer and Barbie. 

“Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project. And Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies.”

But after the joke didn’t receive an uproar of laughter, that’s when Koy briefly went off script. He then quickly pivoted back to his monologue and made a joke about Taylor Swift: “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” he said, adding, “I swear, there’s just more to go to.”