Will the Emmys Late-Night-Talk Category Finally Make a Change?
In Anatomy of a Category, Awards Insider breaks down the top contenders in the Emmys biggest races, ahead of July 13s nominations. In this first entry, David Canfield and Hillary Busis discuss the main players in outstanding variety talk seriesa category thats exclusively been won by white men, and sees all five of last years nominees back in contention. David Canfield: The Emmys love getting stuck in their ruts. Id argue the variety-talk category is in a pretty bad one right now: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver has won this thing every year since 2016. I like John Oliver! His speeches are usually at least somewhat amusing! But it feels like entire buzz cycles for the likes of Samantha Bee and a de-caricatured Stephen Colbert have come and gone since the HBO host started winning, not to mention the creative surges (and great quarantine pivots) of folks like Seth Meyers and Desus Nice & The Kid Mero, who have never even been nominated in the category. The field has been, at minimum, far more interesting than the Emmys would have you believe. Hillary Busis: Ah, Davidthe Emmys stubborn embrace of John Oliver has long been a thorn in my side, particularly since (imagine, here, that Im lowering my voice to a whisper) Last Week Tonights best days are far behind it. Olivers show has, in fact, won the outstanding-variety-talk-series Emmy every single year that this category has existedsave for its inaugural appearance in 2015, when The Daily Show With Jon Stewart won for its very last season. Prior to that year the Emmys lumped talk shows and sketch shows together in one mega-category, which had spent the previous 17 years giving the award to just three different shows: The Late Show With David Letterman (six times), The Daily Show (10 times), and The Colbert Report (twice). This history lesson only reinforces what youve already said: that Emmy ruts are distressingly common, particularly in this genre, no matter how many buzzy disruptors come and go. Maybe...but honestly, I doubt it. As you also pointed out, the TV Academy didnt seem moved in 2020 to give special notice to shows that did particularly innovative things during the height of the pandemic, like Seth Meyers broadcasting from his attic, or Samantha Bee from her backyard. One year later the memory of those creative efforts has faded, leaving the field looking much like it did before COVIDespecially because arguably the most exciting new entries into the late-night field, The Amber Ruffin Show and Ziwe, are competing as sketch shows, not talk shows. So I cant see any reason to believe Oliver wont come out on top againthough I remain befuddled by his complete dominance. Canfield: Based on those stats you just dropped, inertia feels like the consistently dominant factor here. That feels entwined, to some extent, with the hole Last Week Tonight filled after Jon Stewart left the air. The Television Academy clearly values this category as a place for substantive, news-driven satire; with an innovative weekly format, Daily Show alum Oliver managed to uniquely occupy that space at the right time. Trevor Noah, Colberts Late Show, and even Seth Meyers got off to varyingly imperfect starts thereafter. To my mind, all three (not to mention Bee) execute that particularly newsy element of variety-talk much more effectively now, but Olivers out-of-the-gate polish may explain why hes become such a name-check. And one big reason for that polish: Hes on once a week, whereas these other folks are putting on shows every daya big challenge when youre just figuring things out (and for everyone else too). I am guessing you will not be saying Last Week Tonight. (But youre allowed!) Busis: Weve mentioned him a few times alreadybut it does seem increasingly nuts that Meyerss Late Night has been nominated four times for writing, but never for the main prize.