The 81st annual Golden Globes aired live Sunday night, with host Jo Koy at the center of the social media universe. His opening monologue didn’t exactly blow the roof off The Beverly Hilton.

Fans are used to big comedy stars hosting awards shows, including the Globes’ former familiar emcees like Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh.

While Koy has enjoyed a long career as a comedian, he’s not the household name typically booked for such an occasion, highlighting the work of movie and television’s biggest stars who happen to share the same room.

So here’s a little background on Sunday’s host.

Who is Jo Koy?

Koy is a standup comedian and actor born in Tacoma, Washington. The 52-year-old comic, who grew up in Washington state and Las Vegas, appeared as a television panelist and had a few standup specials to his name. He began his standup career in Las Vegas circa 1994 and would grab a regular spot on “Catch a Rising Star” at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino before he was discovered and booked for BET’s “ComicView.”

Where have I seen him before?

Koy served as a panelist on the E! late night talk show “Chelsea Lately,” hosted by Chelsea Handler, as well as VH1′s popular time capsule shows “I Love the ‘70′s,” “‘80′s” and “‘90′s.” He’s also appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Last Call with Carson Daly” and other nationally televised talk shows.

Koy has appeared on television shows like “Mr. Iglesias” and “Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens,” as well as films like “Anastasia: Once Upon a Time,” 2022′s “Easter Sunday” and 2023′s “The Haunted Mansion.” He had two Comedy Central standup specials, 2009′s “Don’t Make Him Angry” and 2012′s “Lights Out.”

Koy has also performed live in Alabama, including at Birmingham’s Alabama Theatre in November 2023.

Where can I watch his work?

You can watch all four of Koy’s Netflix original standup specials on the streamer now, including 2017′s “Live from Seattle,” 2019′s “Comin’ in Hot,” 2020′s “In His Elements” and 2022′s “Live from the LA Forum.”

Koy also does voice work in the new Netflix animated film “Leo,” also starring Adam Sandler and directed by Robert Smigel.

Didn’t he date Chelsea Handler?

Yes. the couple publicly shared their relationship via Instagram in fall 2021. Handler frequently invited Koy on her show “Chelsea Lately,” and she referenced him in her own standup material. She called him “the best boyfriend I’ve ever had” and sang his praises online. The pair split amicably in 2022, posting a positive breakup video to ensure fans they would remain friends. “I know many of you were invested in our love, and I wanted to express to you how much that meant to both of us,” Handler wrote in an Instagram caption. “How much it still means. And how much I now believe in love for each one of us.”

How do I watch the Golden Globes monologue?

You can watch it in the video above, or stream it on YouTube.

What did people say about the monologue?

Koy drew mixed reviews after one-liners about “Oppenheimer,” Taylor Swift and Robert De Niro’s personal life fell somewhat flat in the room, with CBS cameras cutting to the unamused faces of A-list stars. “Some I wrote, some other people wrote,” Koy said after hearing some groans from the crowd. “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue? Shut up! You’re kidding me, right? I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

Vulture wrote the night “never fully escaped the pall created by host Jo Koy, who alternated between berating the crowd for not laughing at his jokes and blaming his writers for the material he felt didn’t land.” In Vulture’s “Highs and Lows” recap, writers said, “His presence became less and less pronounced as the show went on, but even still, every Koy return was a reminder that the night’s whole energy was off.

Under the headline “Koy Vey,” GQ called his performance “a disaster from the opening moments,” writing “Once he started fighting back against the audience — and throwing the show’s writers under the bus in the process — it was clearly over, and Koy’s performance goes down as one of the bigger award show messes in recent memory.”

In their piece “The best and worst moments from the 2024 Golden Globes,” Entertainment Weekly tried giving Koy the benefit of the doubt, labeling the hosting gig as a “thankless job” and confirming he has plenty of comedic chops.” EW also noted that he threw his writers under the bus. “Koy did earn a few legitimate laugh lines (that joke about De Niro’s ‘latest performance’ was pretty solid), but we’ll likely never know what the comedian could have done if he had the time — and the permission — to write something truly his own,” EW wrote.