It took a while for the 2025 Emmy Awards to get to host Nate Bargatze’s monologue. First there was a sketch that called back to his pair of rapturously received Saturday Night Live appearances; a crowd-delighting welcome from Stephen Colbert , who cracked some mild jokes about his cancellation by the very network airing the ceremony, CBS; and a lead comedy actor trophy accepted by Seth Rogen . When Bargatze finally did take the mic for some unusually brief introductory remarks, he posed a typically self-deprecating question: “A lot of people are wondering, like, why am I hosting?” After his low-effort performance, anchored by a gimmick that made the show feel like a telethon, viewers might be asking themselves the same thing.

Of all the emcees networks have tapped—from Nikki

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