It's Wild How Much Criticism the Emmy Awards Charity Stunt Has Garnered

by Julian Spivey

Photo: CBS

One thing I noticed the day after the 77th annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired on CBS on Sunday, September 13, is that critics almost unanimously thought comedian Nate Bargatze was among the worst hosts in the history of the awards.

I must confess that even though I am a fan of Bargatze’s comedy – I’m actually seeing him for a second time later this week in Little Rock, Ark. – I had my concerns about him hosting the Emmys before the telecast. Bargatze doesn’t seem very versed in pop culture, particularly the majority of the television shows nominated for awards and felt he might struggle with the typical monologue one would give at a Hollywood award show.

My fears were assuaged when Bargatze opted to forgo a traditional award show monologue, instead choosing to begin the Emmys with a continuation of his George Washington sketches, which have been incredibly popular during his hosting stints on “Saturday Night Live” over the last two years. He also performed a similar role as an angel at the Nativity during his CBS Christmas special last holiday season. For the Emmys, Bargatze took on the role of Philo T. Farnsworth, the father of television, explaining to three men (played by ‘SNL’ cast members Mikey Day, James Austin Johnson, and Bowen Yang) what television would be like in the future.

Yes, I understand that this concept may be wearing thin for some, but it still makes me laugh.

Aside from the cold opening, Bargatze had only one bit that ran throughout the night, and it was no doubt one that the network likely played a part in to help the live telecast run smoothly.

Bargatze said he would donate $100,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America – but there was a catch. For every acceptance speech that ran over the allotted 45 seconds, he would subtract $1000 from the total for every extra second. For every speech that lasted under 45 seconds, he would add an additional $ 1,000 for each second.

This act of charity, and the game made out of it, seems to be the main sticking point for the criticisms of Bargatze’s hosting gig.

I can agree that a three-hour running gag can wind up making eyes roll, but Bargatze’s quips throughout the night, especially the one about a show called “Adolescence” taking money from adolescents, kept me chuckling.

Most of the criticisms found the gag to be unfair to the night’s award-winners, who tried to beat the clock in an effort not to take money away from the kiddos, but anyone watching surely had to have known by the night’s end that Bargatze and CBS would be coughing up money regardless, because otherwise they would’ve looked like massive villains.

In the end, the actual tally would’ve been in the negative, but CBS gave $100,000, which, let’s face it, seems cheap for a network, and Bargatze gave $250,000. At the very least, the night’s telecast raised $350,000 for the charity, but it's likely that the continuous mentions throughout the night led to word of mouth, prompting many viewers to contribute from their living rooms across the country.

Also, the winners truly weren’t letting it affect their speeches, as you could tell from the many that went over the allotted 45 seconds.

Wouldn’t we rather see money donated to charity than hear an obnoxious orchestra play music to run award-winners off the stage or producers who mute the microphone after a certain amount of time?
The way the producers of Sunday’s telecast chose to adhere to the time limit is frankly the nicest way I’ve ever seen an award telecast handle the situation. That’s why I’m shocked it’s universally hated on. I feel like it’s the biggest Hollywood press overreaction in quite some time.

I understand wanting to give award winners the spotlight – it’s their time to shine, after all. But the only way to truly do that would be to move these awards to a streaming service where runtimes don’t matter. If we want a four- to five-hour Emmy telecast, this can certainly be achieved.

By the way, if you’d like to donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, you can do so at www.bgca.org.