If I wrote about politics, this would be known as a “process story.” In entertainment/gossip, I have no idea what these stories are called. But I just wanted to say something about the Emmys being “hostless” – it was a terrible idea. It was terrible at the Oscars too, let’s be real. Just because the Oscars seemed to move faster without a host didn’t mean that they actually moved faster, because every awards show producer thinks that they can, like, reinvent the wheel. Instead of dumb filler from a host, we get dumb filler from utter randos.
The 2019 Emmys featured terrible comedy bits, horrendous writing and a lack of any real “moment” which brought people to the show. Instead, they chose to hire Thomas Lennon to do voiceover/announcer patter as Emmy winners walked to the stage, and he also threw to commercial. It was awful for the most part. The only good or interesting moment was when he decided to make a savage joke at Felicity Huffman’s expense: “Our producers have asked me to give a special shout-out to any of our previous lead actress winners who are watching tonight from prison. Hopefully those two weeks are gonna fly right by.”
Still thinking about the Felicity Huffman shade. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/a1Nyo8vskc
— michael blackmon (@blackmon) September 23, 2019
There you go. Did that one good joke justify all of the weird/awkward/offensive sh-t he said during his voiceover? No. It didn’t. It’s not really his fault – producers should have figured out something better, truly.
Photos courtesy of Getty, The Emmys.
And Thomas had the self awareness to know it sucked as well. He said as much.
I really like him, as much as I’ve seen him as an actor, he deserved so much better.
I enjoy him, too. Shame that this went so poorly.
That was a great line but otherwise I didn’t like his role. But nobody could have done what they wanted him to do. And the lack of a host was a problem. I normally love award shows, even bad ones, but this was a total blah bust as far as the show itself goes, even though I liked some of the presenters. The open was really lame and it seemed very pathetic of Fox to open with Homer – it was like an admission that the network’s only star is a thirty year old cartoon character.
I’m a huge Tom Lennon fan. I met him in person a couple of years ago and he was so sweet with my son. This bit is unkind but I don’t blame him.
I was cringing at how bad the jokes were
I didn’t watch the Emmys but HONKHONKHONKHONK for Thomas Lennon. I’m a huge fan from “The State” days.
YAS!!!! The State!!!!!! I loved that show!! I still have it on vhs somewhere. “I’m going to dip my balls in it!!”
I only caught the last half and the commentary was really off putting. Like who the fuk thought this was a good idea? Part of the problem with this sort of thing is that there just aren’t enough funny jokes to cover each person. So rather than only joking if they actually have a joke, the comedians just end up going on and on and not being funny. It was like a radio morning show. (The bad is assumed.)
However, I really liked the hostless Oscars. Because the hosts were comedians who brought in their own writing teams and were looking for good reviews, they always gave themselves way too much material. Somebody pulls off a funny bit once and we are stuck with a decade of bad material that wouldn’t make the cut on their own show.
Thomas Lennon is great, this material was not. I cracked up when he literally stopped in the middle of some shitty writing and said that it sucked.
As Sarah Silverman stated on the red carpet, every comedian is too scared to even host if asked. I think Thomas did an ok job for the odd moments he was trying to fill. At least he said at one point it was dookie. I won’t fault him for doing his job.
For the whole night, anything that was supposed to be a “joke” just fell flat. It was awful.
He was terrible. That awful Casey Kasem/made for radio voice was so contrived and off-putting. I yelled at the tv every time they went to commercial. Thankful for DVR. Worst Emmy’s I’ve seen in years, maybe ever.
I’m only speaking about the clip featured here since I didn’t watch the Emmys, but…he always sounds like that.