Actresses Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the hosts of this year’s Golden Globe Awards, have signed a deal to head the show in 2014 and 2015, organisers said.
Golden Globe and Emmy winner Fey, 43, and Poehler, 42, will host the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards from Beverly Hills on January 12, which will be broadcast live on the Comcast Corp.’s NBC network, as well as the show the following year.
Fey and Poehler, who developed a strong comic rapport a decade ago while on NBC’s late-night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, helped boost the Golden Globes viewership to its best ratings in six years in January.
The 2013 telecast attracted 19.7 million viewers, a 17 per cent increase from the previous year when British comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the programme.
“Tina and Amy are two of the most talented comedic writer/performers in our business and they were a major reason the Golden Globes was the most entertaining awards show of last season,” Paul Telegdy, the president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment, said in a statement.
Fey and Poehler – who have had their own NBC comedy series, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, respectively – boosted viewership 28 per cent in the 18-to-49 age demographic most coveted by advertisers.
The duo won praise from critics for fostering a comedic but relaxed atmosphere at the awards after three years of Gervais’s acidic humour that some believed was in poor taste and was not always well received by the celebrity-filled audience.
Tina and Amy are two of the most talented comedic writer/performers in our business
Fey and Poehler’s understated tone also will be mimicked by the Oscars this year, as organisers brought on comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to lead the Academy Awards after Family Guy creator and provocative comedian Seth MacFarlane drew mixed reviews for his sometimes raunchy act in February.
The Golden Globes, which are given out annually for achievement in both film and television by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, kicks off the Hollywood film awards season. It does not always tip Oscar winners as the HFPA has fewer than 100 voters while Oscar voters number close to 6,000.
Last year, Iran hostage drama Argo won best dramatic film at the Golden Globes as well as best picture at the Oscars, but Golden Globe big winner Les Misérables, which won best comedy/musical film, was only able to score a single top Oscar award when Anne Hathaway won best supporting actress.