Welcome to The Jokebook, your Sunday update on comedy. This week:

The 83rd Golden Globe Awards (2026) leaned into comedy as Nikki Glaser cemented her status as a host who can be provocative, widely appealing, and institutionally trusted all at once. Hosting for the second year in a row, Glaser opened the ceremony with a 10-minute monologue, which you can watch here.

Glaser’s set targeted Hollywood, including their silence on Epstein, Leonardo DiCaprio’s young dating habits, and a Kevin Hart takedown (clip) that echoed her dominance at the Roast of Tom Brady. Glaser explained that she avoided political jokes because they’re “not funny” in the current moment.

Comedy winners were Ricky Gervais, who took home Best Stand-Up Comedy Performance, while Amy Poehler made history by winning the first-ever Golden Globe for podcasting with Good Hang. Absent from the conversation were the bro-dominated podcast giants like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and others who routinely top comedy podcast charts. Poehler’s win signaled a preference for industry-adjacent, celebrity-driven podcasts.

Other newly crowned winners included Teyana Taylor, Stellan Skarsgård, Jessie Buckley, Wagner Moura, Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Coogler, and Noah Wyle, all of whom cycled through late night TV.

By the way, Bill Maher had a brief Golden Globes moment after appearing unamused by Wanda Sykes’ onstage joke for him to “do less” (Watch the clip here). Days earlier, Maher suggested the Globes were stacked against him.

Where comedy specials live has transformed, according to comedy app Jester. From the first recorded stand-up special through the end of 2025, Jester has tracked over 775 comedians, 2,000 comedy specials, and 1,500 comedy albums. For most of stand-up history, specials were controlled by cable and broadcast networks. This changed most dramatically in the 2010s as YouTube normalized self-releasing, allowing comedians to bypass gatekeepers.

The result is a modern ecosystem where YouTube hosts the single largest share of comedy specials, outpacing traditional prestige platforms. Behind YouTube, Netflix remains the dominant traditional streamer, followed by Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO Max.

Portland-based stand-up comic Brent Lowrey tried an unconventional way of breaking out of his local comedy bubble: switching lives with another comedian (Adam Flick) in Philadelphia. The two comics knew each other, which made it easier to swap apartments and cars.

For nearly a month, Lowrey performed in Philly as if it were home, relying on his counterpart comedian’s local connections. What started as a low-cost experiment became a test of how changing cities and comedy scenes can reshape creative growth. Below are lightly edited excerpts from our interview with Brent.

You essentially swapped lives with another comedian for nearly a month, moving from Portland to Philadelphia. How did it go?

“When you go to a brand new city, normally you have to put in your time for several months before anybody really gives you some spots and some respect. But because I switched places with the comedian who is already a part of the scene and he has shows and friends, those people put me on and in three weeks I was able to do around 18 shows.

The comics were immediately welcoming, versus if you’re just a stranger who’s showing up, it takes a long time before people even realize that you’re showing up every day. And so doing this room swap was a novel way of getting comics to at least notice me.

And then the next step is you do have to be funny, because if something’s kind of like a gimmick, that’s cool, but if you suck, then that doesn’t really matter. So the idea that I showed up and they were like, ‘Okay, well, what’s this guy about?’ and then I was able to get spots after meeting people, that was the best part of it.”

What was it like actually living in someone else’s place and being embedded in a new scene for a full month?  

“Seeing people once and then not seeing them again for a few years, or maybe adding them on Facebook, that doesn’t do that much. But when you see comics three or four different times over the course of three weeks, it’s like, oh, you can develop a rapport with some of these people. By the time I finished, I had a decent picture of some of the actual dynamics of the scene.”

What was the biggest practical risk of the swap?

“Honestly, I think I wouldn’t swap the car because it’s a little too much of a trust fall. We got lucky nobody did any damage, but if somebody crashes your car, your insurance is going to go up. There’s very little damage somebody could do to the house, but you could mess a car up pretty good.”

Would you recommend this to other comics?

“Sometimes you sit in your bubble too long and you worry that maybe your stuff only works in that bubble. And it’s encouraging to go to different places far away and have some of that stuff still work and still get the respect from comedians.

And being able to take trips and figure out how you would grow in different environments, I think that can speed up your whole career. Or if you’re in the wrong place, it can slow it down or maybe even stop it.”

What’s next for you after this swap?

“The goal is New York, but it’s so expensive and competitive that moving there and getting into the back of the line just doesn’t add up financially without us having to go back and get big boy jobs.

So Philadelphia is way more affordable and it’s still competitive, but I think that there’s a lot more room you can operate in. And then you can obviously go to New York. It’s only a 90-minute train ride or something like that.

I think that it’s time to go be connected to way more people. And I think in that Northeast, there’s just so much more happening that we’re going to go throw our hats in the ring and see what happens.”

→ Pete Davidson set a January 30 Netflix premiere for The Pete Davidson Show, a weekly video podcast with conversations among famous friends from his garage. It will stream exclusively on Netflix.

→ Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard hosted Saturday Night Live last night, marking his hosting debut as the show returned from its holiday break. You can watch his opening monologue here. Ahead of the episode, SNL leaned into Stranger Things fandom by releasing a promo built around the show’s “conformity gate” theory, pairing Wolfhard with cast member Kam Patterson. You can watch the promo here.

→ Shane Gillis and John McKeever inked a new deal with Netflix as Tires officially enters production on Season 3. The partnership will see the Tires co-creators develop a new scripted series, films, and unscripted projects under their “Dad Sick” banner, while also delivering two additional stand-up specials from Gillis. Season 3 will bring back core cast members Steve Gerben, Stavros Halkias, Kilah Fox, and Chris O’Connor, alongside Thomas Haden Church.

→ Skankfest, stand-up’s premier and notoriously rowdy comedy festival, announced its return to New Orleans for November 13–15, 2026. VIP presale tickets go live February 16 at Skankfest.com.

→ Kill Tony returned to Netflix with Kill Tony: Once Upon a Time in Texas, bringing the hit live comedy kingmaker and roast show back to the platform. The release features Gabriel Iglesias, Joe Rogan, Roseanne Barr, Carrot Top, Rob Schneider, Kam Patterson, and Brian Redban.

→ British comedy icon Steve Coogan joined The White Lotus Season 4, bringing a comedic presence to the hit HBO series as it heads to France.

→ An Austin-based comedy show producer shared video advice on how she runs a profitable recurring stand-up show. In the Reddit post, she breaks down the practical mechanics of producing over 100 shows in 2025.

→ State of Comedy published a guest post from Jonathan van Halem breaking down how he chose material for his Just For Laughs New Faces hour-long act submission. The Brooklyn-based comedian studied past JFL selections and weighed “jokes only I can tell” against his strongest current material.

→ LateNighter unpacked SNL Season 51 in a dedicated 2.5-hour YouTube video, covering midseason cast power rankings, cast screen-time metrics, and broader performance trends from the first nine episodes.

→ Adam Sandler pledged to make “at least” 50 more movies, and insisted that half of them will be good, while speaking at AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards.

→ Late-night ratings rebounded in the first full week after the holiday break, with total viewing up across most shows, but younger audiences lagged. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert led the 11:35 p.m. hour at 2.3 million viewers, followed by Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, though both ABC and NBC saw double-digit declines among adults 18–49. On cable, Gutfeld! dominated late night overall, surging to 3 million total viewers. 

→ Guillermo Rodriguez launched a new salsa brand, Guillermo’s, turning the longtime Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick into a Costco-backed condiment entrepreneur. You can also watch a launch video explaining the salsa’s backstory. 

→ Caitlin Clark “clapped back” at Michael Che in a new Nike commercial that extends their ongoing Saturday Night Live–born playful rivalry.

→ Michael Kosta booked a guest role on NBC’s new Tracy Morgan sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. The series, produced by Tina Fey, stars Morgan as a disgraced ex–football star trying to rehabilitate his image, with Daniel Radcliffe co-starring. The show is set for a regular Monday 8:30 p.m. slot starting February 23.

One fun thing: Chicago-based comedian Courtney Zelazny appeared on FOX 32 Chicago to talk about her viral TikTok series reviewing bathrooms across the city. Watch the news clip here.

→ SF Sketchfest (Jan. 15–Feb. 1, 2026, San Francisco, CA) — San Francisco’s long-running comedy festival celebrating sketch, improv, stand-up, and alternative comedy across venues citywide. SF Sketchfest returns January 15–February 1, 2026. Tickets and/or Info. Full lineup here.

→ Salem Comedy & Spirits Festival (Jan. 21–24, 2026, Salem, MA) — A winter comedy festival celebrating stand-up, community, and locally made spirits in historic Salem. The fest pairs nightly shows with tastings and social hangs. The 2026 lineup features a mix of regional and national comedians across multiple nights. Tickets and/or Info. 

→ FRINGE WORLD (Jan. 21–Feb. 15, 2026, Perth, Australia) — One of the world’s largest Fringe festivals, featuring comedy, cabaret, theatre, music, circus, and more across venues throughout greater Perth. The festival draws hundreds of thousands each year and is Western Australia’s largest annual arts event. Tickets and/or Info. 

→ Tower City Comedy Festival (Jan. 22–24, 2026, Paris, TX) — A multi-venue comedy festival in downtown Paris, Texas, bringing together 100+ comics, podcasters, and industry professionals for three nights of stand-up showcases, themed shows, roast battles, panels, clinics, and networking, with headliners including Matthew Broussard, Carmen Lynch, and Jeremiah Watkins. Tickets and/or Info. 

→ SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival (Jan. 23–24, 2026, Bethlehem, PA) — An improv festival at the Fowler Blast Furnace Room, featuring comedy from teams around the world. The 2026 headliners include Connor Ratliff presents The Acting Class (Friday) and Opening Night: The Improvised Musical!, plus ensemble performances, jams, workshops, and an after-party. Single-day and 2-day passes available. Tickets and/or Info.

→ Charleston Comedy Week (Jan. 24–31, 2026, Charleston, SC) — A citywide comedy week across Charleston clubs and theaters featuring headliners like Sherri Shepherd, Pete Holmes, Tim Heidecker with Neil Hamburger, Tom Papa, Ms. Pat, alongside local improv, stand-up, and sketch scene. Tickets on sale now. Tickets and/or Info.

→ The Last Word Comedy Festival (Jan. 29–Feb. 1, 2026, Williamsburg, VA) — A multi-day comedy festival featuring improv and sketch across Williamsburg. Tickets and passes for 2026 are on sale now, with headliners including Bluebird Improv and cast from Whose Live Anyway? Tickets and/or Info.

Here's some specials coming out this month, courtesy of the January Special Release Radar (via @comediandiscovery):

These submissions close very soon!

That’s Jokebook News — your Sunday comedy update. Have something to share? Message us at [email protected].