EXCLUSIVE: Joel Kim Booster just wants to make people laugh — and if anyone could use a moment of levity right now, its film and TV writers.
The comedian is set to host the 77th Writers Guild of America Awards‘ west coast ceremony on Saturday (joined by Roy Wood Jr. on the east coast), because, in his own words, “I am a classically trained gay guy, so I love award shows.”
That, and he’s hoping to provide a bit of reprieve from the tough few years that many in Hollywood have faced, from production shutdowns to dual strikes to the devastating wildfires that kicked off the year. Most importantly, he’s looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate his own union membership.
“I think that we saw sort of the strength of our union throughout the strike we went through a couple years ago,” he tells Deadline, adding that he thinks a strong labor movement will be “our best tool for fighting against our country becoming even more of an oligarchy than it already is.”
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Booster will be joined at Saturday’s Los Angeles ceremony, by a powerful list of presenters that includes Utkarsh Ambudkar, Eric Bauza, Clancy Brown, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Ernie Hudson, Diarra Kilpatrick, Thomas Lennon, Franklin Leonard, and Luke Tennie. The night will also feature special appearances by Gillian Anderson, Bryan Cranston, Bill Pullman, and Naomi Watts.
In the interview below, Booster spoke with Deadline about how he’s trying to strike a balance that other award show hosts have failed to find in recent years, why he’ll bring up his union membership any chance he gets, and what he hopes the future holds for writers.
DEADLINE: There’s a lot of attention on award show hosts as of late. What made you want to step into that arena?
JOEL KIM BOOSTER: I am a classically trained gay guy, so I love award shows. I watch all of them during award season, including all the Guild Awards. So it was a really exciting opportunity. This is the first time I’ve ever hosted an award show like this, so it’s obviously very nerve wracking, because you’re right, there is a lot of attention that is on the hosts of these shows. But I also think, there’s something really nice about it being the WGA. It’s like hosting a family party, almost. It doesn’t feel like there’s as much pressure on me than if I were hosting an awards show for something that I’m not a part of. Especially after the strike and being on the picket line for months on end with these people, it feels like a really great opportunity to celebrate…So I was really excited to do it.
DEADLINE: You’ve said before that being a WGA member is one of your proudest accomplishments. Why?
BOOSTER: For me, it’s kind of twofold. One, obviously, it’s a huge accomplishment to get into the union, to do the work that’s required to maintain standing in the union. Being able to support myself writing has always been this crazy pipe dream that I’ve had since I was a kid. So to be a part of this union, having that stamp of like, ‘You are a working writer in this town, in this industry,’ is like such a huge deal to me, because it’s just something that felt so far away for so long that to actually be a part of it now is such an honor. The other thing is that I’m labor to my bones. I am so proud to be a part of a union. I think it’s so important. I think that we saw the strength of our union throughout the strike we went through a couple years ago. For me, real change is only going to happen in this country when we see a strong labor movement. I think like we’re seeing that across different industries and their unions, and it’s really our best tool for fighting against our country becoming even more of an oligarchy than it already is.
DEADLINE: You do bring labor conversations into other spaces, like when you gave a shoutout to the union at the GLAAD awards. Why do you think that’s important?
BOOSTER: I think class issues are as much a part of the fabric of my identity as my race and my sexuality. When we talk about representational politics, class is often left out of that. It’s so intrinsically linked to all of these other things, too, and especially at a space like the GLAAD Awards where it is primarily focused on the LGBTQ experience. When we separate those, trying to segment off all of our identities and all of the things that make us who we are, we’re weaker for it. The intersectionality of sexuality and class and race and class and all of these three things together is such an important lens through which I’ve always looked through life. I don’t just look at issues as an Asian person or as a gay person, or as a formerly working class person. I think, for me, they’re all intrinsically connected and tied together, it’s impossible for me to talk about one without also thinking about the other.
DEADLINE: You made a salient point earlier about the accomplishment of being able to sustain yourself off of your writing. What’s your trajectory been like to get to that point?
BOOSTER: It requires so much work that you’re not being asked to do, that you’re not being paid to do, and that you are completely self-structured in doing. I always tell people that you cannot make the opportunity appear for yourself as a writer, all you can do is be prepared for when it happens. That was me. I mean, I sat at my day job and on my lunch breaks, wrote my spec scripts, and woke up early to write, stayed up late to write, did all of this work at a time in my life when I was working 60 hours a week at a tech startup and trying to keep my head above water as a comedian in New York. I think having the drive to do all of the prerequisite work required to be prepared for my moment when it came is the only thing that I can share with writers who are struggling. You just have to push through, and when the opportunity arises, be prepared for it.
I got my manager because he saw me do a 10-minute stand up set at a gay bar in Portland, Oregon, and it was so completely random. When I met with him, he asked me, ‘Do you have a writing sample? Do you have XYZ?’ And I was able to tell him, ‘Yes, I am prepared. Put me in coach.’ I think that’s just the most important aspect of trying to break into this industry.
DEADLINE: Let’s talk about the show. How are you approaching your monologue?
BOOSTER: So I’m working with my close friend and award show savant Louis Virtel to write this monologue. It’s a really difficult time for our industry. Post-strike, but also in LA post-fires, we’re very sensitive to the ways in which our community is struggling, because of both of these things, and the recovery from the strike, and also the recovery from the fires. We want it to feel celebratory. I want it to be funny, of course, but I think there’s an impetus to come in and want to roast writers and roast the idea of Hollywood and all of these things. That’s certainly part of what I bring to the table, but I think for me, it’s about lifting up at the same time, right?
DEADLINE: There is definitely a fine line, which many have crossed and others have stayed staunchly away from. Both have backfired in different ways.
BOOSTER: The thing that makes the all the difference as someone who has watched so many award shows is there has to be equal amounts of reverence and irreverence for what you’re doing there in the room that day. I have so much respect for writers and affection for being part of this union, but I also understand the innate absurdity of award shows too. I think you have to have the base respect for what you’re doing there in that room, but also sort of a more zoomed out understanding [that] award shows are innately a little silly too. So you just have to have the right balance. I think where other awards show hosts have failed is mismanaging that balance. You can’t just go into that room and make fun of people and make fun of Hollywood and make fun of the work…if you’re also a part of that machine. I think where a lot of people have gone wrong is thinking they’re better than the award show that they’re hosting, and I certainly am not in that camp.
DEADLINE: If you were to look back on the show and deem it a success, what are some of the goals you’d want to achieve?
BOOSTER: I think, obviously, laughter is a huge part of it. You can think about all of the lofty ideas and goals and things that you want to come from an awards monologue, especially in a time that we’re currently going through, but at the end of the day, I just want people to laugh. I still remember Chelsea Peretti’s opening joke from her monologue when she hosted several years ago. That’s what I want. I want people to remember my opening joke. I want a comedian five years from now who’s hosting, or a writer, whoever they get to host five years from now, to be like, ‘I want it to be as good as his monologue,’ because that’s how I feel about it. I want it to be as good as Chelsea’s.
DEADLINE: Well, it seems like once these shows find a good host nowadays, they stick with them for quite a while. So maybe it’ll be you again in five years.
BOOSTER: I would welcome it. That is certainly a best case scenario for me.
DEADLINE: As you mentioned, writers have had a really tough few years. What are your hopes for this year and beyond to get things back on the right track?
BOOSTER: My hope is that the industry will go back to a place of of risk taking and ingenuity and original ideas. A lot of our talent is being wasted right now on existing IP franchises and reboots. I’ve seen so many great examples of writers who have — because we’ve been backed into this corner where the only thing the industry is interested in buying is something that it’s a surefire bet — [found] ways to take risks within that framework. I think a really great example of this is The Penguin, obviously a show that got made based on the strength of the Batman IP, but a show that stands so distinctly as its own original idea within this framework. That, to me, is such an exciting way to do it. If we’re being forced to work with an existing IP, that’s the way you should do it. I hope that as we move forward in the industry and things start to recover, the industry [will] take more chances and more risks on our own original ideas and not just want us to regurgitate existing ideas.
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