Jimmy Fallon played what could have been a disaster at the Golden Globes for laughs at his own expense.
The host's autocue failed right as he began his opening monologue, leaving him briefly standing there helpless until the problem was fixed.
The Globes are presented by Dick Clark Productions, the same company that puts on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, where singer Mariah Carey had her bizarre, bungled performance that she blamed on the show's producers.
When the Globes returned from its first commercial break, Fallon quipped that he'd just gotten off the phone with Carey.
He said she told him "she thinks that Dick Clark Productions sabotaged my monologue."
Globes representatives say the glitch was real, not a setup for a joke.
After the autocue meltdown, Fallon began again, targeting US president-elect Donald Trump in his monologue.
Following a colourful, star-studded musical number mirroring the Ryan Gosling-Emma Stone film La La Land, the host made several jokes referencing Trump.
Right off the bat, he reminded America that, though Trump won the electoral college, he lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes.
"This is the Golden Globes, one of the few places left where America still honors the popular vote."
He then took another swing at Trump, this time bringing up Game of Thrones.
"A lot of people wonder what it would be like if King Joffrey had lived. Well, in 12 days, we're going to find out."
Fallon also mocked Trump's apparent struggle to line up A-list talent for his inauguration.
He brought up Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep as the woman who was considered the world's worst opera singer.
"And even she turned down performing at Donald Trump's inauguration," he joked.
He wrapped up with a reminder that the votes are tabulated by accounting firm Ernst & Young..."and Putin," he quipped, implying that the Russians could also hack the Golden Globes vote.
