John Mulaney ‘takes aim at’ Marvel during Governors Awards opening monologue

Comedian’s jibes were met with ‘howls of laughter’ days after Jo Koy’s ‘no-joke’ Golden Globes monologue

John Mulaney reportedly poked fun at Marvel during his opening monologue at the Governors Awards.

Hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Governors Awards hands out honorary Oscars “to honour extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy”.

Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, editor Carol Littleton and the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter were honoured at the 2024 ceremony, which took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday (9 January).

The awards show, which was delayed by two months due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes, kicked off with an opening monologue delivered by stand-up comic and Big Mouth voice actor Mulaney.

Following the ceremony was Vanity Fair journalist David Canfield, who shared a number of jokes from Mulaney’s speech on Twitter/X.

According to Canfield, Mulaney’s monologue included a speech about the night’s honouree Angela Bassett – who was receiving an honourary award – and her Oscar-nominated role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Canfield tweeted: “Another #GovernorsAwards smash from Mulaney, for tonight’s honouree Angela Bassett: ‘She got an Oscar nomination for a Marvel movie. That’s like getting a Pulitzer Prize for a Reddit comment.’ Howls in the room.”

Mulaney actually has his own connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as he voiced the character of Peter Porker/Spider-Ham in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

Canfield said that laughter was flowing throughout Mulaney’s monologue, providing a welcome reprieve after comedian Jo Koy’s “painful” jokes while hosting the Golden Globes on Sunday (7 January).

“John Mulaney swiftly washing out that bad Globes opening monologue taste at the #GovernorsAwards, whose starry crowd laughed rather loudly at this early joke to Bradley Cooper: ‘Maestro, or as it was originally titled, Bye Felicia!’” the tweet read.

Cooper directed, wrote and stars in Maestro as the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, with Carey Mulligan playing his wife Felicia.

Mulaney during his monologue on Tuesday (Getty Images)

The Governors Awards took place just two days after the Golden Globes, which were hosted by comic Koy when he stepped in as presenter just two weeks before the ceremony.

His jokes went down like a lead balloon with viewers at home and guests in the room, eliciting boos from some attendees.

Taylor Swift, meanwhile, looked unamused when he joked about her, with the camera catching her stoney-faced response.

Other subjects of Koy’s jokes were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Oppenheimer’s runtime, and Barbie. The latter joke garnered criticism online, after Koy reduced Greta Gerwig’s feminist take on the toy to the words: “Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies.”