It’s guild season! While Kumail Nanjiani already has a DGA Awards hosting gig under his belt, Kristen Bell, Atsuko Okatsuka, and Roy Wood Jr. are currently gearing up for their entertainment duties. Bale will host the Actor Awards (formerly known as the SAG Awards) on March 1, while Okatsuka will host the Los Angeles Writers Guild Awards show and Wood will host the New York show on March 8. The three hosts reveal their pre-show rituals, whether they still feel nervous and how much training is required.
What is your pre-show ritual?
Kristen Bell Beta blockers.
Roy Wood Jr. This is my third time hosting the Writers Guild Awards and my second time in a row. I’ve done it once before, before COVID-19, and I learned a lot from that first time before COVID-19. There is no real pre-show ritual. My day is pretty typical if it’s my son’s preschool week, I’m doing dad stuff until the babysitter arrives and I get to the hotel in time for practice. I usually get to the hotel about an hour before practice just to meet the crew and talk to all the people. I like to just talk and see what their view of the world is and what they think. I even more so have a post-show ritual. I’ve hosted the Webbys several times, and really enjoyed sitting down and looking at everyone. After the show is over, you can mingle and hang out and everyone will be happy and you are just a fly on the wall.
Atsuko Okatsuka For hosting or presenting, I often review the lyrics and jokes out loud to myself beforehand. Get this language that’s not the first thing that happens in my mouth!
Have you been watching other award shows to prepare?
Okatsuka Yes. The cool thing is that award shows are hosted by fellow comedians. So getting to know them in person and seeing how they told jokes, and what they chose to joke about, was really cool. I just saw Conan O’Brien belt out some Oscars jokes that night as well, and it’s so inspiring to know that we can bring our personalities to a night of celebration and liven up what can actually be a rough and nerve-racking night for many.
wood I don’t really watch other award shows. I’ve learned over the years that you can’t really learn anything from watching others because they are only doing their version of themselves. You can learn a little from watching someone host the same awards show as you. For the Correspondents’ Dinner [that I hosted in 2023]You may have seen shows that lasted 15 years before me. For Writers Guild, I watched one or two. But honestly, once you’re there, it’s just you. You are just yourself.
When you grow up, will you watch awards shows and say, “I’d love to host one?”
Okatsuka When I was growing up, I didn’t have that self-esteem. I’m still learning how to find it, but what makes it even more special is that I, an immigrant child who was never meant to be in the United States, who lived in an undocumented garage with her mother and grandmother, will be hosting the WGA Awards. Thank you to all who believed and still believe in me.
wood I had never watched an awards show and thought I would never host one.
How many writers do you plan to work with? Or if you’re already in the pipeline, how many writers are you working with?
bell I’ve been working with my dear friend Monica Badman. She knows how to write to my voice better than anyone.
wood Well, for previous Writers Guild Awards shows, I think we had about eight to 10 people. At the Correspondents’ Dinner, I had six writers. For the 2025 MLB Awards, she received two awards. At last year’s Peabody Awards, she received two awards.
Okatsuka I work with Sophie Badel. She’s a comedian and a great friend and I’ve worked on it After midnight As the main monologue writer.
How much training is involved?
bell a lot. Like…a lot. We rehearse scripts, rhythms, steps, steps, and camera marks. I practice reading the teleprompter, and I practice pretending not to read the teleprompter even though I do just that. By show day, it’s basically muscle memory.
Okatsuka I’m currently in the process of that. She is currently starting to collect jokes and will be starting a joke workshop at local collections in Los Angeles. When I’m getting ready for something, I’ll repeat jokes to myself at home on my trees on the porch for a while before I go out to try them out in front of people.
wood We actually started thinking, and it happened at the end of January. We already had rough ideas of what the themes would be, but the actual performance that day, you can rehearse it that day, but by then, you’ll know the jokes like the back of your hand.
Will you sing a song and dance?
bell I always try to incorporate music when I can, so you’ll have to listen to find out.
wood No, no, no, no. Although I did rap last year at the MLB Awards. I don’t think I’ll be rapping this year.
Okatsuka I’m known for dancing…but there’s also something to be said for stillness. And let the jokes do what they want.
Nikki Glaser practiced her jokes on stand-up sets before Globes hosting gig — who do you practice your jokes on?
bell My children. If a joke survives that room, it can survive anything.
wood I manage jokes with writers. I’ve done enough monologues at enough awards shows now, and done enough hosting to know whether or not this joke will work.
Okatsuka To the gorgeous trees outside my house, my amazing helper Zoe, my husband at home first. …I like to conduct the workshop in the privacy of my space first before trying it in front of a crowd. I’m very wary of performing in public with notes in hand. I want to present the best version of myself every time I’m on stage because people made the effort to come out and see the show.
Where do you draw the line when it comes to making fun of candidates?
bell I don’t grill people. I want to keep her happy and fun. If I were to roast anyone, it would be me.
wood Comedy In general, I don’t talk about people, so I don’t really plan on making fun of the candidates. I’ve never done that before. If I do that, the joke is a kind of show of respect, but I’m not there to insult anyone.
Okatsuka Just punch. Always punch. Be silly, have no right, and talk about what you might genuinely laugh at, which to me is everyday silly, existential, relatable stuff, so I’m good. There is no “line” that I’m afraid to cross, if at all.
What is the most stressful part of hosting?
wood Remember the jokes, don’t go too fast. And then, sometimes, there are ups and downs on the day that person is supposed to come, but it doesn’t happen. But that’s what makes it exciting is that when you have a presenter that wants to tell a joke or do something silly with you, it’s always a lot of pressure because it’s a place to get a free joke.
Okatsuka This is my first time hosting an awards ceremony. But as I prepare, perhaps the most “exhausting” aspect is having to make jokes about current events, and keep up with the zeitgeist while trying to come up with new, unique, and unheard-of takes.
This story appeared in the February 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
