The duo hosted the annual ceremony in two different locations – one in Los Angeles and the other in New York – with the broadcast stitching them together so they could perform an opening monologue “side by side”.
Although most of his play was humorous, Fey and Poehler reserved the toughest jokes for the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris, Sia’s controversial film Song and Corden for their work in The prom, for which he was appointed.
During the opening, Fey joked: “The Queen’s Gambit is all that James Corden was doing in The prom, I think.”
Corden, always the sport, smiled along with the broadcast cut to the actor and presenter he had signed at home.
Elsewhere during the ceremony, many high-profile stars criticized the lack of diversity among the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPS), the organization’s voters who have not had a black member for at least 20 years.
The most powerful speech of the night came from Taylor Simone Ledward, wife of the late Chadwick Boseman, who received his posthumous award for Black Bottom by Ma Rainey.