ABC/Jeff Lipsky(LOS ANGELES) — The Emmys air Sunday night on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel serving as host for what will be first major awards show during the pandemic — a position he never could’ve imagined when he agreed to the gig.
“They asked me to host the Emmys well before the pandemic occurred, and it seemed like it would be fun at the time, and now it seems like it’s going to be less fun,” he admits.
“Hopefully it will be entertaining for the people at home, adds the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host, who points out, “you have nothing to do” anyway.
Kimmel, who’ll get his third shot at hosting the show, says putting together the Emmys broadcast is already “a massive undertaking,” but not nearly as hard as this year’s telecast.
“Just think about having a zoom with your family and how complicated that is. Even just getting grandma to look at the camera, get her whole face on camera. Multiply that by like a million, and that’s what we’re dealing with here.”
To insure things go as smoothly as possible, “we are sending out…a box and it has a camera in it and it will connect you right to the Emmys,” says Kimmel, who sees a potential downside to the plan.
“I guess the hope is that after the Emmys, people will send this stuff back. I don’t know. I don’t think I would if I won,” he jokes. “If I didn’t win, I would keep it. That would be my award for the night.”
Kimmel calls Los Angeles’ Staples Center, where he’ll be hosting from “a perfect place to do it.”
“There won’t be…as many people as there usually are,” but “we’ll have the whole crew and…select celebrities on hand to infect me,” he says.
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