The morning after the Grammy Awards, most people usually aren’t talking about the host. They’re discussing Beyonce’s record-setting wins, or the memorable speeches, or the amazing live performances.
But the host plays a big role in the success of the broadcast. They set the tone for the night, they make us laugh, and they react in real time to the events that unfold on the show.
Some people get to host only once, while others make it an annual tradition. Andy Williams hosted a record seven times in the 1970s, while John Denver hosted six times, and LL Cool J and Trevor Noah were at the helm five times each.
Did you know that 15 of the 21 Grammy hosts have earned Grammy nominations themselves? Scroll to the end for the full list of host nominations.
Most Times Hosting the Grammys
These are the men who have hosted the Grammy show the most. See a complete list of every host in chronological order later in this article.
Most Hosting Performances:
Andy Williams 7
Trevor Noah 6
John Denver 6
LL Cool J 5
Garry Shandling 4
Billy Crystal 3
Most Hosting Performances by a Woman:
Alicia Keys 2
Ellen DeGeneres 2
Rosie O’Donnell 2
The 5 Best Grammy Hosts of All-Time
So far, 21 different people have hosted the Grammy Awards over the years. Who did it best? Here’s our opinion.
5 Garry Shandling (1990-1991, 1993-1994)
Comedian Garry Shandling hosted four times and struck the right tone, offering gentle needling of the award show and its participants. He was a steady and respectful presenter, but he also didn’t take the show too seriously, giving the broadcast a needed dose of levity.
His monologues included material from his standup, and he reacted with humor when a few of the jokes didn’t work. “Boy, Henley doesn’t laugh at anything, does he?,” Shandling remarked about the curmudgeonly singer in the crowd.
Jokes aside, Shandling’s finest moment as host came in 1994. After the Grammys cut off Frank Sinatra’s meandering lifetime achievement award speech, Shandling came back after the break and called out the director, pointedly remarking that Sinatra should’ve been able to finish his speech.
4 Andy Williams (1971-1977)
An Emmy-winning variety show host, Andy Williams was from the old school of tv presenting. He wouldn’t be “cool” enough to host today, but for an award show trying to establish itself and gain credibility in the 1970s, Williams was a perfect fit.
A performer who earned six Grammy nominations himself, Williams performed a medley of the Song of the Year nominees on four separate occasions.
His gentle humor involved an annual joke where he listed fake songs that weren’t nominated, such as “‘The Last Tango in Paris’ by Henry Kissinger, and Alice Cooper’s version of ‘I Am Woman.'”
Williams repeatedly noted that Grammys were awarded “not based on a popularity poll, or who sold how many records,” a stance that the Recording Academy is sadly moving away from these days.
3 Trevor Noah (2021-2026)
Some viewers don’t care for Noah, but there’s a reason he’s been asked to host six years in a row.
His debut show, in 2021, was the first post-covid Grammy show, and required a deft touch to balance celebrating the year’s best music with keeping the ceremony in its proper perspective while a pandemic raged. Noah handled it beautifully. He found the right tone again in 2025, in the aftermath of the LA wildfires.
Noah’s cheery disposition may turn some people off, but he’s smooth, he’s funny, and he’s good at ad libbing and reacting when necessary.
He’s not too cool for the room, but he’s also not a square. He celebrates the artists without making fun of them, which is what we should want from a Grammy host.
2 LL Cool J (2012-2016)
LL Cool J, like Alicia Keys (who just missed our top 5) had that perfect balance: He was cool enough to be respected by every artist in the room, safe enough for viewers to feel comfortable, and responsible enough to entrust with the responsibility of navigating music’s biggest night.
LL came onboard in 2012 after six straight years of host-less broadcasts, and immediately reminded us why hosts are so important. He brought an emotional tone when necessary, opening with a prayer for Whitney Houston in the aftermath of her shocking passing.
He brought energy and passion, spending more energy to get the crowd fired up for performances than any host in history.
1 Ellen DeGeneres (1996-1997)
Ellen DeGeneres landed more jokes than any host in history. She clearly knew popular music better than most hosts, and was able to make informed jokes about the music of acts like Anita Baker and Primus.
She gushed that looking into the audience was like being in a record store, “But if it were a record store, you’d all be seated in alphabetical order, and according to your musical styles… and the classical people, no offense, but you’d be in a whole other room by yourselves.”
For her second year, Ellen opened the program by performing a spoken word blues-rock comedy song, which should have been cringe, but turned out to be fantastic, as she put together a band of female superstars, including Chaka Khan, Sheila E. and Bonnie Raitt.
Say what you will about Ellen today. But for two years on the show, she was likable, funny, and gushed with enthusiasm over the artists she got to introduce. That made Ellen the perfect Grammy host.
Honorable Mention: Alicia Keys, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, John Denver, Queen Latifah
The Worst Grammy Hosts of All-Time
Ouch. Hosting is a tough gig, so we empathize with those for whom it didn’t go well.
Paul Simon (1981): Paul Simon’s an incredible singer-songwriter. He wrote “The Sound of Silence” and “Mrs. Robinson.” He created some of the most iconic music of the 20th century. Notice how we’re not discussing his hosting, because it was one of the most awkward hosting performances in award show history. He appeared timid and uncomfortable the entire night. It didn’t help that he presided over one of the worst Grammy shows of all-time. But hey, that catalog of songs!
James Corden (2017-2018): Corden hosted twice and was friendly and entertaining. But, much like on his late night show, Corden had a tendency to draw the spotlight to himself too often. We didn’t need a bit where he fell through the stage, or where he delivered a rap verse (yes, really) about the most-nominated artists.
Whoopi Goldberg (1992): Whoopi is great, but her Grammy gig was uneven. She took the “make jokes about the performers” concept a little too far, resulting in mean-spirited quips that didn’t land: “In the category of New Faces of the Year, the winner is Michael Jackson.” A plastic surgery joke — yawn. She bizarrely slipped into unfunny accents at times. Just a strange performance overall. “You think they’ll ask me to do this again? I’m not sure,” she pondered near the end of the night.
Paul Reiser (1995) and Kelsey Grammer (1998): Both of these guys were seemingly chosen to host because they starred on successful sitcoms at the time, and the Grammys couldn’t find anyone else. Both were fine; they just weren’t particularly memorable. Reiser had one good moment where he had to stall and fill time for 60 seconds, and created a story about BB King’s dentist on the spot.
Complete List of Every Grammy Awards Host in History
A few notes on Grammy history. The first two ceremonies both took place in 1959, one in May and one in November. There was no ceremony in 1960, but starting in 1961, the Grammys became an annual event.
The ceremonies up through 1962 were not televised. From 1963 to 1970, the Recording Academy aired a pre-recorded The Best on Record one-hour special that essentially served as the Grammy Awards broadcast for that year. Those shows featured performances of nominated songs and speeches from winners.
Finally, in 1971, the awards switched to a live broadcast, and they have aired live ever since.
Grammy Hosts By Year:
1959a: Mort Sahl
1959b: Meredith Willson
1961: None
1962: None
1963: Frank Sinatra
1964: None
1965: None
1966: Jerry Lewis
1967: None
1968: None
1969: None
1970: None
1971: Andy Williams
1972: Andy Williams
1973: Andy Williams
1974: Andy Williams
1975: Andy Williams
1976: Andy Williams
1977: Andy Williams
1978: John Denver
1979: John Denver
1980: Kenny Rogers
1981: Paul Simon
1982: John Denver
1983: John Denver
1984: John Denver
1985: John Denver
1986: Kenny Rogers
1987: Billy Crystal
1988: Billy Crystal
1989: Billy Crystal
1990: Garry Shandling
1991: Garry Shandling
1992: Whoopi Goldberg
1993: Garry Shandling
1994: Garry Shandling
1995: Paul Reiser
1996: Ellen DeGeneres
1997: Ellen DeGeneres
1998: Kelsey Grammer
1999: Rosie O’Donnell
2000: Rosie O’Donnell
2001: Jon Stewart
2002: Jon Stewart
2003: None
2004: None
2005: Queen Latifah
2006: None
2007: None
2008: None
2009: None
2010: None
2011: None
2012: LL Cool J
2013: LL Cool J
2014: LL Cool J
2015: LL Cool J
2016: LL Cool J
2017: James Corden
2018: James Corden
2019: Alicia Keys
2020: Alicia Keys
2021: Trevor Noah
2022: Trevor Noah
2023: Trevor Noah
2024: Trevor Noah
2025: Trevor Noah
2026: Trevor Noah
Grammy Hosts Who Earned Grammy Nominations
Fifteen of the 21 Grammy hosts have been nominated for Grammys themselves, and 10 hosts have taken home at least one award. Here’s the full rundown (wins/nominations shown in parenthesis.)
Mort Sahl (0 wins/2 nominations): The first Grammy host scored noms at the first two ceremonies in the Best Comedy Performance category.
Meredith Willson (1/3): The composer and playright, who hosted the second Grammy show, won his only Grammy a few years later in 1964. Here’s Love won Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album.
Frank Sinatra (9/31): Ol’ Blue Eyes was the first Grammy snub in history. At the inaugural Grammys, he was up for six awards, and it was assumed he’d win several, but he only won for Best Album Cover. Sinatra would go on to win several Grammys in the subsequent years, including Record of the Year for “Strangers in the Night.”
Andy Williams (0/6): Seven-time host Andy Williams was also a crooner who often performed a medley of Song of the Year nominees on the broadcast. He never won for his music, despite six nods, including one for Album of the Year.
John Denver (1/4): Six-time host John Denver won his only Grammy posthumously, when he claimed Best Musical Album for Children in 1998 just months after his passing. He earned an Album of the Year nod in 1975.
Kenny Rogers (3/19): Country singer Kenny Rogers was a Grammy nominee both years he hosted. In 1980, in fact, he hosted, performed with Donna Summer, earned nominations for Record and Album of the Year, and won Best Male Country Vocal Performance for “The Gambler.”
Paul Simon (16/36): Paul Simon is the only person in history to win both Record of the Year and Album of the Year three times. But during his lone year hosting, he lost both of his nominations, including one on the televised broadcast to Kenny Loggins. Simon joked, “This is not to take anything away from Kenny Loggins, but last year Kenny Rogers was the host of the show and he won, so I just somehow assumed…”
Billy Crystal (0/3): Comedian Billy Crystal had three noms over a 28-year span, in varied categories like Best Comedy Recording, Best Spoken Word Album, and Best Musical Theater Album.
Whoopi Goldberg (1/2): Whoopi is one of a small handful of women who have won Best Comedy Album. She captured the award in 1988, four years before being asked to host the show.
Ellen DeGeneres (0/3): Ellen picked up three comedy nominations over the years without a win. In 2005, she became the only host to lose a Grammy to another host, when Jon Stewart beat her to win Best Comedy Album.
Jon Stewart (2/2): Jon Stewart won two Grammys for albums released as part of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents… series. He beat DeGeneres and Al Franken to win Best Comedy Album in 2005, then beat Woody Allen and Carol Burnett to win Best Spoken Word Album in 2011.
Queen Latifah (1/7): Queen Latifah took home her only gramophone in 1995 when “U.N.I.T.Y.” took Best Rap Solo Performance. She branched out musically and later earned nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional Pop Album.
LL Cool J (2/9): The rapper won Grammys in the 1990s for “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Hey Lover,” then became a reliable, five-time Grammy host 20 years later.
Alicia Keys (17/32): Alicia Keys passed Paul Simon to become the most decorated Grammy host in history, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. She won another award in 2024 for Best Immersive Audio Album, and another in 2025 for Best Musical Theater Album.
Trevor Noah (0/4): The most recent Grammy host scored three nods for Best Comedy Album, and one for Best Audiobook Narration, which saw him compete against a bizarre field of contenders, including the Dalai Lama and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli.
The only Grammy hosts who never earned a nomination were Jerry Lewis, Garry Shandling, Paul Reiser, Kelsey Grammer, Rosie O’Donnell, and James Corden.
Who was your favorite Grammy host of all-time?
Last Updated on June 29, 2026