Nate Bargatze kicked off his first time hosting the Emmy Awards by instituting some ground rules to keep the celebrities from running over the 45-second time limit on their acceptance speeches.
The standup comedian wasted no time in his opening monologue before explaining the controversial method he came up with to keep the celebrities within their time limit. Bargatze vowed to donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of America at the end of the evening. But for every second past 45 seconds someone spoke during their acceptance speech, $1,000 would be deducted.
Bargatze explained, “Everybody gets 45 seconds – and honestly give your speech, I know how hard you guys have all worked, I’m not trying to take anything away. 45 seconds, that’s what you got. And if you want to do more than that, do it on social media later. More people are gonna see it there anyways, so.”
He then announced his plan to donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of America, which earned some applause from the audience. “Remember how fun that was,” he told the audience. “Because this part is hard to say.”
As he explained the rules, some members of the audience appeared shocked as they laughed. “I know, I know. That’s tough, it’s hard,” he said.”It’s brutal. But what are you gonna do? Can’t change it. This is a game I made up and these are the rules.”
He then checked how much the donation was already at after Seth Rogen kicked off the evening by earning the first Emmy of the night. Rogen’s relatively short speech added $6,000 to the count, which brought the donation to $106,000. But, how much did Nate Bargatze donate after the Emmys?
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“Don’t go crazy because I’m paying for this,” Bargatze commented, earning some laughs. “Some of you go over a little, some go under. Do the right thing.”
It looks like the celebrities couldn’t help themselves, however. By the end of the evening, the donation was at -$60,000.
“This night has been great for me,” Bargatze joked at the end of the ceremony. “Honestly, I think I’ve made money.”
But the comedian revealed the Boys & Girls Club of America would still receive a donation at the end of the evening. In fact, Bargatze vowed to donate even more money than he initially promised.
“CBS is going to add $100,000, I will give $250,000,” Bargatze said. “It takes us to $350,000 to the Boys & Girls Club.”
The 77th Annual Emmy Awards are streaming now on Hulu.