Emmys host Nate Bargatze pokes fun at the TV industry and fails with gag to keep speeches short

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nate Bargatze, the host of this year's Emmy Awards, kicked off the ceremony Sunday with a string of jokes poking fun at the television industry.

The show opened with a sketch where “Saturday Night Live” stars Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson joined Bargatze, who played television inventor Philo T. Farnsworth. The audience was warm to Bargatze's jokes as he, while playing Farnsworth, opined on what the future of TV will be like.

“We create a world where the finest artists craft stories of staggering beauty that millions of people will watch on their phones while they’re sitting on the toilet,” Bargatze said.

Bargatze, a 46-year-old stand-up comic from Tennessee known for his friendly style, was not a typical host. The gig left some wondering how Bargatze would approach it.

Bargatze joked that 77th award ceremony is “not a big one, like 75 or 80, but it’s the one that gave me.”

“A lot of people are wondering, like, why am I hosting?” Bargatze said. “I’m a stand up comedian. I’ve not had a ton of success in Hollywood, but let me tell you, boy, is it going good everywhere else.”

During the opening sketch — which played out much like Bargatze's popular “SNL” skits where he played George Washington, Bargatze-as-Farnsworth laid out what the future of television would look like. The Learning Channel, he joked, would be where “hoarders, people who eat couch cushions, Dr. Pimple Popper,” would dominate.

Bargatze went on to mention that there would be Black Entertainment Television. When asked if there will be a network for white people, he replied, “Why, CBS of course.”

Bargatze said streaming will be “a new way for companies to lose money.” Streaming services, he said, will create their own stars, who will be “real-life murderers, mostly.”

Yang's character assumed “the viewer pays the fee, so there are no ads,” to which Bargatze joked, “if only it were that simple.” When Johnson said that is unfair to the consumer, prompting Bargatze chastised him that, “We don’t say that out loud. Get out. Go sit in the back with the people who are probably going to lose anyway.”

The Emmys don't have a routine host, unlike other major awards shows like the Oscars, which has Conan O’Brien returning in 2026 and Nikki Glaser returning to host the Golden Globes. The last four Emmys have been hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy, Anthony Anderson, Kenan Thompson and Cedric the Entertainer.

“My parts will be dumb and silly,” Bargatze told “Entertainment Tonight” on the red carpet ahead of the show.

Bargatze, who wrapped up three shows in Denver on Saturday and Friday ahead of the award ceremony, has emerged as one of the most popular stand-up comedians today. He sold more than 1.2 million tickets in 2024, according to Pollstar and has released three Netflix specials, including December’s “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze” and has hosted “Saturday Night Live.”

Bargatze also dreamed up a creative way to ensure winners keep their acceptance speeches under the 45 second limit. The comedian pledged to donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs. He said he would deduct $1,000 for every second a winner goes over the allotted time and will add the same amount for every second under.

Seth Rogen’s acceptance speech for the first category announced, lead actor in a comedy series, was under the allotted time, which bumped the donation to $106,000.

“Don’t go crazy though cause like, I am paying for this,” Bargatze said.

By the end of the show's first hour, the total had plummeted to $74,000. By the time the show was nearly over, with only a couple of awards left, the tally was negative-$60,000.

After “The Pitt” was announced as the night's drama winner, Bargatze had one last announcement about the donations: CBS was donating $100,000 to the organization and he would give it $250,000.