Colbert cavort
From dancing handmaidens to a Spicey surprise, the host pulled off a droll debut
W AIT — was I watching the 2017 Emmys opening monologue Sunday night, or was that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”?
For the first 20 minutes, I wasn’t so sure.
While Colbert, hosting his first prime time Emmycast, started his inaugural emceeing jaunt strongly — with a clever, Billy Crystal Oscar-type song-and-dance shtick — it wasn’t long before he was in “Late Show” monologue mode. That meant riffing on his favorite target, POTUS, whose 2016 election has vaulted his CBS show, with its laserlike focus on politics, to first-place late-night prominence. At the same time, Colbert ironically knew his audience. “I didn’t know you could applaud while patting yourselves on the back,” he told the stars sitting in the Microsoft Theater in LA after mentioning Emmys and diversity. He even took a much-deserved shot at “Real Time” host Bill Maher: “I assume he’s black because he’s so comfortable using the ‘N’ word.”
Funny, biting stuff, but I was hoping (I know, I know) that Colbert would keep his monologue focused on prime-time television and leave social commentary wind-baggery to the Emmy winners. (Alec Baldwin, who won a statuette for his portrayal of Trump on “Saturday Night Live”: “At long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy.” Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Donald Glover also got in some Trump jabs.) Still, Colbert did manage to corral former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to make an appearance — a bona fide shocker.
After that initial topicalnews deluge, Colbert kept the rest of Sunday night’s Emmy telecast running smoothly, while showing up in a few sketches (could’ve done without seeing part of his naked butt in that “Westworld” sketch with Jeffrey Wright). He was invisible for big chunks of airtime, which was fine. Some of his lines were great, particularly his recitation of the Traditional Hollywood Prayer: “Lord, thank you for giving us talent and beauty and the gaping hole inside of each of us that craves love and will never be filled.”
For once, much of the banter between presenters — particularly Seth Meyers and James Corden riffing on fake-watching colleagues’ TV shows — was actually witty and not cringeworthy. And how great was it to see TV giants Norman Lear, 95, and Carol Burnett, 84, onstage together?
It was also refreshing to see deserving winners: Riz Ahmed for “The Night Of ” (Lead Actor, Limited Series or Movie); Charlie Brooker and his creation, “Black Mirror”; John Oliver and staff (Best Writing, “Last Week Tonight”), and Oliver for Best Variety Talk Series; Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe (Best Writing for “Master of None”); and Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”). Dowd, a veteran actress and firsttime winner, was genuinely stunned: “I’ve been acting a long time,” she said through tears. “That this should happen now, I don’t have the words.”
The TV Academy and its members showed their laziness by awarding both Julia Louis-Dreyfus and “Veep” — yet again — with Emmys. Tracee Ellis-Ross (“Black-ish”) deserved it. Memo to Dreyfus: Oprah Winfrey took herself out of the Daytime Emmys running after winning a gazillion times. You should do the same.
Was the show exciting? Not exactly, though Cicely Tyson had everyone nervous when she suddenly stopped talking when presenting the Best Limited Series Emmy to “Big Little Lies” — and you could hear a pin drop on national television. (She was nervous, she said.) And what was that they bleeped out of winner Elisabeth Moss’ (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) acceptance speech? But predictability is OK with awards shows, which should focus on the work, the shows themselves and all the glitz and glamour therein.
That’s why people watch TV.