2025 Emmys host Nate Bargatze eschewed the typical monologue this year in favor of introducing a bonkers game to keep the night’s winners from going over their strict 45 second long acceptance speech time. Bargatze revealed that he had decided to donate $100,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of America. However, for each second a winner went over the 45 second mark, he would deduct $1000 from the final amount. The other twist? For each second under 45 seconds, Bargatze would add $1000 to the pot.
Thus, Nate Bargatze found a way to blackmail an audience full of Hollywood elites into keeping their speeches short and the show from going long.
After launching this year’s Emmys with a cold open sketch where he played the inventor of TV, Philo T. Farnsworth, dreaming about the future of his great invention — think a literal riff on the comic’s super popular George Washington Saturday Night Live sketches — Bargatze let Stephen Colbert present Seth Rogen with the first award of the night, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
After Rogen accepted his award, Bargatze returned to the stage, made a few self-deprecating digs, and announced that CBS had tasked him with finding a fun way to keep the show on schedule.
“Everybody gets 45 seconds,” Bargatze said. “That’s what you got and if you want to do more than that, do it on social media later. More people are going to see it there anyway.”
Bargatze then put up on a large screen a promise to donate $100,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. “Remember that. Remember how fun that was,” he said. “If you stay at 45 seconds, it stays at $100,000.”
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“Every second you go over, we will deduct $1000 away from the Boys and Girls Club,” Bargatze said. “That’s tough. It’s hard, that’s tough, it’s brutal. What are you gonna do, though? I can’t change it. This is a game I made up and these are the rules.”
Bargatze then added a caveat. “If you go under, we will put $1000 back on.” He then realized that the challenge had already started, even if winner Seth Rogen didn’t know.
“We already got started. He didn’t even know about this at all,” Bargatze said. “What did Seth do? Was he over, under….he was under.”
The tally then went to $106,000, to Bargatze’s concern.
“Don’t go crazy because I’m paying for this,” he said, to laughter. Some of you go over a little, some go under. Do the right thing.”
“Now you know the rules. Those are it. Let’s keep this show going.”
As of publication, the tally is at $98,000, thanks to The Pitt star Katherine LaNasa taking an extra beat for a wave to the audience after her Best Supporting Drama Actress win.. “That was an expensive wave,” Bargatze quipped.