When the comedian Nate Bargatze first hosted “Saturday Night Live,” in 2023, it seemed like an odd choice for a show that usually brings on high-profile celebrities with projects to promote. But since that first stint, Bargatze’s fame has exploded. He became the highest-grossing comedian of 2024 and netted a two-special Netflix deal, as well as another appearance on “S.N.L.”
Now he is hosting the Emmys in a move CBS surely hopes will draw fans who may not care about TV prizes.
The major networks take turns broadcasting the Emmy Awards, and they typically draw from their own talent pools for hosting duties. When CBS last aired the Emmys, in 2021, it tapped Cedric the Entertainer, a star of the CBS sitcom “The Neighborhood.”
Late-night hosts have often been Emmy M.C.s, and Stephen Colbert hosted for CBS in 2017. However CBS announced in July that it was canceling Colbert’s “The Late Show,” making it unlikely to ask him back as Emmy host. Colbert might still take the stage on Sunday night — “The Late Show” is considered the favorite to win outstanding talk series, which could be an enjoyably awkward award show moment.
Bargatze has ties with CBS: Last year it aired his variety special “Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas.” He is also just a safe choice. His work is clean and — unlike that of Colbert, a frequent critic of President Trump — nonpolitical, and he delivers it all in a good-natured Southern lilt.
“I don’t want your family fighting,” he told The New York Times last year. “There’s plenty of times you’re going to be fighting, so I can be your one hour you don’t fight.” On Emmy night, he’ll have the mic for about three hours.
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the Emmys? appeared first on New York Times.
