Colin Jost & Michael Che were terribly, painfully unfunny as Emmy hosts

70th Emmy Awards (2018) Arrivals

Most of us knew that Colin Jost and Michael Che would be horrible cohosts of the 2018 Emmys. In that way, they simply met expectations. I expected them to punch down on victims and marginalized people more often, so in that case, they did slightly better than I was expecting. I think one of my big issues was the hype around Che & Jost: they were supposed to bring a different and more youthful energy to the staid awards show. They did not. They got up there and delivered the same old dumb shtick that any Boomer comedian would have. I have no idea if they wrote their opening monologue, but it SUCKED.

You know what I thought about halfway through? How establishment they are. What lackluster corporate shills they are. How they can’t do political humor but worse yet, they have no desire to even do bare-bones political humor. What would the Emmys look like if someone like John Oliver hosted? Oh, well. The unfunniness of Jost & Che continued throughout the three-hour show – every time they walked on stage to do a segue to a presenter, it’s like all the air went out of the room. And not only that, their weird, unfunny, almost hostile energy rubbed off on many of the presenters. It was just an awful night. And can I say? It was the wrong moment for two dudes to host the Emmys. Especially these two dudes.

Hilariously, Jost & Che weren’t even allowed to “open” the show. They weren’t even allowed on stage until about six minutes into the show. Which is because the Emmys decided to open with this number, which in retrospect was super-funny. Tituss Burgess was the best. WHY DIDN’T HE HOST?

Ugh. I mean, it was funny, but also…why weren’t Jost & Che allowed any part of the opening? Hm.

Meanwhile, Jost brought his girlfriend Scarlett Johansson to the show. She must have stayed backstage the entire time, because I did not see her in the audience at all. Here dress is Balmain and she looked really good. I wish she was dating someone better though.

70th Emmy Awards (2018) Arrivals

Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost attends The 70th Emmy Awards-Arrivals in Los Angeles

Photos courtesy of WENN and Avalon Red.

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55 Responses to “Colin Jost & Michael Che were terribly, painfully unfunny as Emmy hosts”

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  1. Other Renee says:

    If they wanted to have two guys host the show, it should have been Tituss Burgess and RuPaul. Can you imagine how amazing that would have been?!?!

    • S says:

      Co-sign. I didn’t know Che and Jost were the co-hosts when I started watching, as I hadn’t read that, and just presumed it was McKinnon and Thompson when they came out. (And if it had to be someone from SNL why WASN’T it Kate?). I think the “We Solved It” opening was more funny in retrospect to the rest of the dullsville show, which seemed EXTREMELY Saturday Night Live heavy, even in nominations, and, seriously, I can’t remember the last time that show was funny, so the lackluster-ness made sense.

      Of course, the Emmy’s apparently believe that the Marvelous Miss Maisel is the funniest show in the world (which, I mean, it’s mostly fine, but, no), so that explains a lot about how painfully unfunny their awards show is. When, “if we don’t seem excited it’s because we’re British, very British,” is your best joke than, yeah, you’re struggling.

      • Derrière says:

        Lol I have been wondering if the Maisel show is funny like Friends or actually funny. But in any case, I just don’t have any tolerance for almost all-white casts getting accolades for especially comedies in this day and age.

      • Scal says:

        It was very SNL heavy because Lorne Michaels was the executive producer of the show. Guy can’t help himself.

    • Michelle says:

      Slow clap on this. Somebody needs to get on this for next year!

  2. Kay says:

    I think Colin and Scarlett are perfectly suited. They’re both pretty mediocre and show no real understanding of the white straight privilege they benefit from every single day. Scarlett has shown this time and time again with her tone deaf career choices. Her dating the stereotypical frat bro makes sense. It’s not like she would be dating Colin Kaepernick, is it?

    • C says:

      This. They are made for each othet.

    • Redgrl says:

      Agree @kay!

    • Mara says:

      Completely agree, they deserve each other

    • Mia4s says:

      I hope she and the bowl of plain oatmeal are very happy together. I have a good feeling he’s a perfect match for her lack of personality, tact, and intelligence. Maybe she should try for ex-husband number three? 😬

      I just love that they brought out Hannah Gadsby at a show Che was co-hosting and she proceeded to be better in half a minute than Che’s ever been. Hey Michael, have you seen Nanette? 😒

      • lucy2 says:

        I LOVE that Hannah was there. And she did well, which is more than I can say for the little bits of Jost/Che that I saw (thank goodness for starting late and fast forwarding).

      • Amanduh says:

        Hannah was highlarious!!!! She should have hosted!!

    • Erinn says:

      Yeah, they actually seem surprisingly suited. I honestly didn’t know who he was – I had to google it. But I find her so entitled and arrogant, and beyond that BORING. And he seems stiff and kind of bland as well, so I guess they’re a nice matching set.

    • geekychick says:

      This. Colin and Scarlett are establishment. and they are where they Are because of that.
      I don’t like any of them. And I Don’t get the appeal of Johansson.

    • Snazzy says:

      Just came to add my agreement! I have her cancelled since the Oxfam incident. They are well suited in their mediocrity and privilege

    • BlueSky says:

      ITA. Both are problematic and refuse to take any responsibility when they say and do something offensive.

    • Parigo says:

      Absolutely

  3. Marjorie says:

    The whole show was like a 12:55 sketch on SNL. Jost and Che knew they were bombing but kept soldiering on like good product reps. And the awards went to dumb, unpopular shows – how many people really watch that Miss Maisel or whatever show?

    • Cali says:

      I completely agree about it feeling like a long SNL sketch. and most of it was super awkward and so unfunny.

      Mrs. Maisel is actually a REALLY great show. It’s well written, the actors are great. I was so surprised by it and can’t wait for the new season to roll out.

      • Bluthfan says:

        Yep, Mrs. Maisel was funny and amazing IMO. And this is from someone who hated Gilmore Girls and was expecting Maisel to be annoying. A big reason is that Rachel is so remarkable in the role.

        SNL hasn’t been funny in a decade.

    • anna2222222 says:

      I watched Mrs Maisel and I enjoyed but wow it did not warrant those awards.

      • billypilgrim says:

        @ANNA2222222
        Totally agree.
        Mrs. Maisel was okay. There are other more deserving shows on tv.
        The Mrs. Maisel character gets on my nerves, because she seems to think she’s all dat and a large size box of Little Debbie fudge rounds.

    • lucy2 says:

      Miss Maisel is very good and pretty popular, but it’s a streaming show so we don’t know ratings.
      I think the two acting awards for it were fine, but I wouldn’t have awarded it best comedy.

    • sommolierlady says:

      I really like Miss Maidel. It’s loosely based on Joan Rivers.

  4. detritus says:

    I thought, no wonder, he’s the least funny of the workaholics, then realized this isn’t Anders.

    • nina says:

      lol that cracked me up

    • Erinn says:

      HA. Anders with the hard ‘an’.
      I actually am a bit of an Anders fan – he can be super funny. But he’s definitely not the kind of ‘fun’ that Blake and Adam seem to be. He’s less silly, I guess.

  5. hnmmom says:

    It was awful. I turned it off after awhile. Just not interested. More entertaining to read about the winners here this morning.

  6. diana says:

    Whenever they showed up on my screen I kept imagining unique and amazing ways in which I can punch them in their faces.

    Imagine been friends with Colin and Scarlett.

  7. Sash says:

    They’re just awful. Prime example of mediocrity getting by because…male.

  8. Walter Horn says:

    You’re right about Jost and Che, but the opening “song” was also awful.

  9. deadnotsleeping says:

    I might be in the minority, but I adored The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I binged it while recovering from surgery last fall, and I’ve watched it twice through since then. I’m behind on almost everything tv wise so I don’t know if it was the best comedy of those nominated, but I was very happy it had so much success last night.

    • Meemoo says:

      I binged it while recovering from surgery too! (And I also thought it was cute and well done.)

    • Amelie says:

      Same here! I love the show as well and I’m so glad Rachel Brosnahan gets to be the star and that she won. For those of you who watched House of Cards, she plays the prostitute that Doug Stamper is obsessed with. Kate Spade is also her aunt. 🙁 They supposedly shot scenes for season 2 in my former neighborhood in Brooklyn which I’m interested to see if I recognize the exterior shots (if they don’t end up cutting the scene).

      I think it’s wonderful to showcase a 1950s housewife who has to figure out how to support herself and her kids after her husband, the breadwinner and provider, unexpectedly walks out on her. She plays a tough woman and she manages to push back at the gender stereotypes of that era by finding her niche in standup comedy. I didn’t think much about it until my former roommate kept insisting I give it a try. I also loved Gilmore Girls (it’s the same creative team) and it has the same fast, witty dialogue that characterized that show.

    • EllieMichelle says:

      I loved it too. I binged it when I was very sick and I thought it was witty and well done. People love to hate on stuff when their favorites don’t win ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      I wanted the Americans to win best drama, but I’m not going to go on about how much Game of Thrones sucks because it doesn’t.

    • sommolierlady says:

      I biged it too after accidentally running in to it. I love it.

  10. Socks says:

    Who are these guys??😑

  11. Becks1 says:

    I may be in the minority but I typically enjoy Colin Jost on SNL and I think he and Michael Che are good together.

    But they weren’t good last night. They were stiff, not funny, not original. And the whole “we solved it” number was hilarious in a sad way as white people kept winning awards.

  12. Valois says:

    God I can’t stand Michael Che. He’s an arrogant, sexist and rude Trump apologist who thinks he’s a genius despite the fact that he’s actually a massive tool and rarely has anything smart to say.
    Colin’s just as annoying, just that he’s less obviously rude and more bland oatmeal.

  13. Darla says:

    Her taste in men is hilarious because every single time I see her with a new guy, I burst out laughing.

  14. Cali says:

    The entire show was so awkward and awful. Even the presenters were bleh. It was a weird night. I wanted to turn it off, but just couldn’t stop watching. I had to see how much worse it might get.

    Next year the Emmys better wake up and give Outlander some love. That show is EVERYTHING and deserves a lot more awards attention, dang it!

  15. Cay says:

    Did anyone else wonder why Kristen Bell was in that “We Solved It” song and dance? They couldn’t find an Asian woman, so they went with the petite blonde instead. Made no sense. She is, like, the whitest chick in Hollywood.

    I enjoyed “The Lovely Mrs. Maisel,” but it doesn’t compare to the genius that is “Atlanta.”

  16. Kitten says:

    I didn’t see it but that’s only because I don’t care about awards shows. I do enjoy the fashion posts here though.

    Colin Jost does come across as a frat bro but he did go to Harvard. He’s not dumb by any means.

    • Veronica S. says:

      Well…depends on your definition of “dumb.” Plenty of very stupid people out there with Ivy League degrees.

  17. Scal says:

    Are these two EVER funny? So boring.

    • Parigo says:

      Seriously. Colin and Che are NOT funny. I have no idea why they’re doing weekend report. SNL needs to cancel that shit.

  18. lucy2 says:

    Scarlet looks really good. Otherwise UGH. Terrible show, terrible hosts.

    Also, why does the Academy love Ryan Murphy shows so much? Other than the OJ one, they ARE NOT GOOD.

  19. Mumbles says:

    Corporate shills is a good description. There is nothing dangerous or exciting about their “comedy.” It was more the “white people do this/black people do this” you can see at a brick-wall-comedy comedy club. Not at all thoughtful or insightful.

    That said the Reparation Emmys was a good piece. Nice to see some of my favorite actors from the 1970s/1980s. I thought of Marla Gibbs when Regina King won her Emmy, because they did “227” together, and then a few minutes later there she was on TV. Florence was kind of a hero when I was a kid, just the way she cut George down to his face. 🙂 Hell, I guess she’s a hero now!

  20. Case says:

    There were a lot of awkward interactions throughout the night, both with the hosts and the presenters. A lot of humor just totally missed the mark. It was…odd.

  21. SM says:

    They pereatedly tied ro make a joke about how tv is dying. Well, if it does, we will be able to blame it on them. They were so bad on arguably tv’s top night, no one will want to swith on the tv judging it by their talent or lack thereof.

  22. Rachelle says:

    Colin Jost and his blockhead look so weird, he looks like Buzz Lightyears smirky cousin.

  23. North of Boston says:

    Jost and Che were the worst part of a pretty dull night.

    Their material was kind of marginal, but they had no charisma or energy, at all. I had no idea who Jost was…even though I’d seen him on SNL. He is just that bland, vanilla and uncompelling. Che at least brought his “hey Boston is racist AF” bit, so there was that.

    It’s as though they were trying to project “hey this is awkward but we’re too cool for school, so we’re just going to go along like it doesn’t bother us…the show will end, eventually” But they weren’t cool enough to pull that off.

    And the running bit with Rudolph and Armisen maybe could have been funny, but paired with the awkward dull hosts, it was just more awkward and dull. I kept thinking…people supposedly complain about awards shows running long, and so they cut a bunch of awards from the main night…so they can include a 20 minute sketch that probably wouldn’t have made the cut on SNL on a typical week.

    I liked a lot of the fashion, at least that wasn’t dull.

    And I was completely amused by the fact that when Ryan Murphy won, the only people to stand up and cheer enthusiastically were the people who work for him. Everyone else stayed in their seats and seemed to be doing the polite-clap-whatever response.