The Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Moments of the 2026 Golden Globes
The 83rd annual Golden Globes have arrived, kicking off the 2026 awards season in earnest. While comedian Nikki Glaser returned after a successful first year hosting, this year the Globes shook things up a bit. Not only did the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announce their picks for the best in television and film, but they added podcasting to the mix, acknowledging the major growth of that medium. They also handed out two big awards the night before the big show in a separate ceremony. During a new annual primetime special aptly named “Golden Eve,” the HFPA honored Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker, with the Cecil B. DeMille and Carol Burnett awards, respectively.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Despite punting Dame Helen Mirren to the night before, the Beverly Hilton hotel was still packed with stars for the main event. In addition to nominees like Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), and Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), presenters included George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Miley Cyrus, Charli XCX, Orlando Bloom, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, and Zoë Kravitz. (Who, of course, referenced her Golden Globes episode in Best TV Series nominee The Studio alongside costar Dave Franco.) Even more exciting, Heated Rivalry breakouts Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams were on hand for all hockey jokes.
Another shift this year relates to awards show scheduling. Normally, the Critics’ Choice Awards come after the Globes, but this year, they doled out their awards first, giving viewers a hint of what critics (if not the HFPA themselves) are thinking. One Battle After Another won best picture, while the top acting honors went to Chalamet and Buckley. Amy Madigan was the supporting actress winner for Weapons, and Jacob Elordi took the supporting actor trophy for Frankenstein.
Will the Golden Globes go the same way? Only one way to find out! Here are the standouts, surprises, and snubs from the 2026 Golden Globes:
Most controversial editing award
Nikki Glaser returned to host the Golden Globes, which she called “without a doubt the most important thing happening in the world right now.” Glaser’s monologue shouted out the roomful of A-Listers, as in “a list that has been heavily redacted,” she quipped, before adding: “The Golden Globe for best editing goes to …the Justice Department!”
Most honest joke
Glaser teased Leonardo DiCaprio about dating much younger women, which is a frequent jest made about the dating life of the One Battle After Another star. She then apologized, saying she was sorry she made that joke, but “we don’t know anything else about you! Open up, man!” She went on to note that his most recent interview was in Teen Beat in the ’90s, when he said his favorite food was pasta. (For a much more recent one, read TIME’s Entertainer of the Year profile of DiCaprio!)
Second most honest joke
While wrapping up her monologue, Glaser asked everyone to keep doing what they were doing. “Guillermo Del Toro, keep making weird monster sex movies. James Cameron, keep making weird monster sex movies.” She continued: “Steve Martin and Martin Short, keep proving to us that in this industry, you are never ever too old to still need money.”
Biggest hint of things to come?
When Teyana Taylor took home the award for Best Female Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another, it seemed like a sign of good, big things to come for the much nominated film. Taylor’s heartfelt speech ended by speaking directly to “my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight, our softness is not a liability…we belong in every room we walk into.” Taylor also earned the distinction of the first bleep of the awards show. She claimed she almost didn’t write a speech because she didn’t think she would win. It’s one of the oldest lines in award shows, but it seemed authentic coming from the first-time nominee.
Most Hollywood speech (so far)
Stellan Skarsgård took the title for Best Supporting Actor for Sentimental Value and announced that he would not spend “the next six minutes thanking everyone in the credits,” but did thank his wife and children, who he quipped helped him learn what “a bad father is.” He ended his speech by preaching to the gathered choir that “cinema should be seen in cinemas.”
Best conspiracy fodder
When The White Lotus star and Blackpink icon Lalisa Manobal and Priyanka Chopra-Jones came out to announce the winner of Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Drama, Chopra-Jones gave a shout-out to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then Noah Wyle, the star of The Pitt, which is set in Pittsburgh, won the award. Take it from here, Reddit!
Third most honest joke
When Jean Smart came to collect her third award for her work on Hacks she simply said, “What can I say? I’m a greedy bitch.” In her short speech, Smart said that she already went on “a rant” on the red carpet and didn’t need to repeat herself. Anyone who didn’t watch the pre-awards show coverage had to Google it. While it’s worth the effort, the short version is that Smart shared her concerns about the direction in which the United States is headed.
Best investment in the future
Owen Cooper, the young star of Adolescence, noted that going to drama class was a challenge: “I was the only boy there. It was embarrassing, but I got through it.” Seems like those lessons have paid off for the youngster as he’s not only now a Golden Globe (and Emmy) winner, but he’s also about to star as young Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
Most cinema vérité moment
In his show The Studio, there is an episode where Seth Rogen’s character is desperate to be thanked on stage at the Golden Globes. Hard to imagine what his character would do if he actually won an award himself, like Rogen just did for his acting work on the show. Rogen recognized the meta-ness of it all, joking: “I thought the only way I would get to hold [a Golden Globe was] to create a whole show where I get to give myself a fake one.”
Most unsurprising bleep
In their infinite wisdom, the Golden Globes invited Snoop Dogg to present the Best Podcast award. Naturally, his speech was bleeped, and he shrugged, “You all kept me here too long.” He then announced the award. “Shout out to all the podcasters, you’re all winners,” said Snoop, “but the real winner is …Good Hang with Amy Poehler.”
Silliest burn
Accepting her statuette as the first ever winner in the Globes’ podcasting category, for Good Hang With Amy Poehler, Poehler thanked her fellow nominees, which were mostly celeb-hosted chat shows. “I’m a big fan of all of you, except NPR. Just a bunch of celebs phoning it in. Try harder,” Poehler joked. The former Globes host had a lot of good quips, but emphasized the heart behind what her show aims to do: “Laughing with people, not at them.”
Most heartwarming speech
The audience probably wasn’t expecting to tear up when “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters was announced as best song. But singer and songwriter Ejae, who sings for Rumi in the film in addition to writing many of the songs on the soundtrack, gave a tearjerking, tear-filled speech. She explained that though she was turned down after many years of training to be a K-pop idol, now she’s thriving as a singer and a songwriter, quoting her own song: “It’s never too late to shine like you’re born to be.”
Best admission
Paul Thomas Anderson took the prize for Best Screenplay for One Battle After Another, and in his speech he admitted that as a writer he is also “a magpie” who stole words from others. He went on to thank his “victims,” who including Nina Simone, Thomas Pynchon, and “everyone he magpie-d off of” while writing the script.
Best excuse for missing your wife’s first win
Rose Byrne won a Globe for her work in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which is not exactly a comedy or a musical, but that’s perhaps beside the point given her accomplished performance. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her husband and fellow actor Bobby Cannavale, who couldn’t join her at the show but had a great excuse for not being there. “We’re getting a bearded dragon and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey,” she explained.
Biggest missed entrepreneurial opportunity
Timothée Chalamet thanked Kevin O’Leary, his costar in Marty Supreme who rose to fame on Shark Tank, in his acceptance speech for his lead acting work in Josh Safdie’s table tennis drama. However, Chalamet didn’t take the opportunity to pitch O’Leary any brilliant business ideas while he had the spotlight. Seize the moment, Chalamet!
Most star-struck Queen Latifah moment
Stephen Graham took home the top acting prize for his work in Adolescence and got momentarily starstruck on the stage. He stopped his speech to say, “Wow, Queen Latifah,” proving stars are occasionally just like us civilians.
Second best excuse for not showing up
Michelle Williams won for her lead performance in the miniseries Dying for Sex. However, she couldn’t be there to accept her acting award because she was acting on the other side of the country, specifically on stage in Anna Christie at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
Most making the most of the moment
Judd Apatow was on hand to present the award for Best Director and used his time on stage to not only reveal that Nikki Glaser used to babysit his kids, but also that he has been boycotting the Globes since his film Trainwreck was beaten by “noted comedy director” Ridley Scott for noted non-comedy The Martian. Apatow also noted that no one seemed to notice his boycott. He then gave the award to Paul Thomas Anderson.
Longest walk
When Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language went to Brazil’s entry The Secret Agent, the cast and crew had to walk all the way from the back of the ballroom. Perhaps the folks making the seating chart also thought Sentimental Value would win. There’s no mercy, either, because even after that long walk, director Kleber Mendonça Filho got played off mid-speech.
Worst bleeping
When Adolescence supporting actor winner Erin Doherty took the stage, the person in charge of the bleeping let a big f-bomb slip onto the air. The bleep was very long, though, so it’s unclear what they actually did manage to bleep out. Doherty kept it real by thanking therapists everywhere. Though she didn’t thank the Heated Rivalry co-stars who gave her the award after they thanked all the “moms” and “daughters” who watched their show.
Best slow burn
Ricky Gervais would “like to thank God and the trans community,” at least according to Wanda Sykes, who had to accept the Best Stand-Up Award on his behalf, after just telling the audience that she loved Gervais for not being there. Gervais is an outspoken atheist and has drawn criticism for his comments on trans people. He has also hosted the Globes five times.
Second Queen Latifah moment
Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn accepted her acting award for a TV drama, seemingly in shock (even though she was the frontrunner and just won the Critics Choice award last week). She charmingly got on stage and told presenter Queen Latifah that she met her 20 years ago while she was between jobs and she was so nice. Seehorn also admitted that her speech included a reminder note to “get beta blocker prescription,” which she didn’t.
Best full-circle moment
On his way to the stage to help collect the award for Best Television Series—Drama for The Pitt, Noah Wyle gave George Clooney a quick embrace, giving fans the ever so brief ER reunion of their dreams.
Best clarification regarding the flattening of visual media
“Television is what you watch on a laptop and movies are what you watch on TV,” explained TV and film star Ayo Edebiri before handing out yet another award to Adolescence, this time for best limited series.
Another missed opportunity
Adam Scott kind of got to give himself an award when he announced that The Studio won Best Television Series—Comedy. Star Seth Rogen got on stage and pointed out that Scott had appeared on the show. Rogen then proceeded to thank craft services and the caterer, but not Sal Saperstein.