Comedian Trevor Noah, who was the host for the 63rd Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Staples Center (backdrop), kicked off the ceremony in his signature style, with witty one-liners and mild innuendos about the current situation with the UK royals and Harry-Meghan Markle, the earlier protests at the Capitol, and singer-songwriter Harry Styles.
Trevor started off with, “I’ll be your host tonight as we celebrate the last 10 years of music that got us through the last 10 years of coronavirus.”
He added, “I know it’s been one year, but it feels like 10.”
Taking a dig at the US protesters who entered the Capitol a few weeks ago, he said, “Tonight is going to be the biggest outdoor event this year besides the storming of the Capitol.”
As he walked through a large outdoor tent outside the Staples Center, he spoke about how the nominees were seated at the tables around him, awaiting their awards.
“This year’s Grammys is going to look a little different, I’m not going to front, the whole thing is going to be pretty different,” he said.
“But it’s going to be even more exciting because our nominees will be sitting at those tables for their awards, so right now there’s more tension in that tent than at a family reunion at Buckingham Palace,” Trevor joked.
Talking about the ceremony and the “celebration of music” through those awards, the comedian said, “That is what tonight is all about — it’s about bringing us all together as only music can. Well, I mean, music and vaccines. This evening, we will celebrate music and hopefully forget all our problems, unless one of our problems is being obsessed with Harry Styles because that’s only going to get worse, I can promise you,” he quipped.
When Harry Styles appeared on stage wearing a feather boa, Trevor commented, “Ladies, you got to watch out, because he’ll steal your heart and your dress and he’ll look damn good doing it.”
Following Harry’s performance for the Grammys, the comedian said in a barb at the UK's prime minister, “It’s amazing to think that someone that talented and handsome is from the same place as Boris Johnson.”
The fun does not end here. Trevor’s comments and one-liners before every singer’s performance are guaranteed to leave you in splits.
Just as singer Cardi B was about to go on stage, Trevor made a reference to an innuendo and said, “We’re all going to find out what ‘WAP’ stands for. If you have small children in the room, just tell them it’s a story about a cat taking a bath.” (For those who are curious, WAP stands for wet-a** p****.)
After Post Malone finished his performance, the comic said the singer’s tattoos were amazing and that this was the “most reading he had done all year.”
Check out some of Post Malone’s multiple tattoos here:
Speaking about Billie Eilish and her achievements, Trevor said, “She won so many Grammys last year that her Uber home was a U-Haul (the rental storage and moving equipment vehicle).”
Trevor called Billie a “gifted young artist” who “helped them kick off the show” earlier in the night.
He added, “She’s also the reason parents all over the world are looking at their teenagers asking, ‘What have you achieved?’”
Throughout the ceremony, Trevor maintained the delicate balance between humour and offence with his carefully-worded jokes and gentle nudges.
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