Jimmy Kimmel dubbed the Emmy Awards the "Pand-emmys" as he opened the show in front of a fake audience on Sunday (20.09.20).
The talk show host took to the stage at Los Angeles’ Staples Center in front of delighted star-studded crowd, but when his own face appeared laughing at one of his jokes, he revealed the footage was from previous ceremonies and the seats inside the venue were filled intermittently with celebrity cutouts – and the real Jason Bateman.
Jimmy joked: Of course we don’t have an audience. This is the Emmys, not a MAGA rally."
Introducing the "Pand-emmys", Jimmy quipped: "You can’t have a virus without a host."
The 52-year-old presenter also joked going ahead with the ceremony at a time of uncertainty was no more "frivolous and unnecessary" than usual.
He joked: "It might seem frivolous and unnecessary to do this during a global pandemic, but you know what else seems frivolous and unnecessary? Doing it any other year."
Jimmy made a dig at event organisers and the network standards provision that meant every time ‘Schitt’s Creek’ – which won all seven of the awards it was nominated for – was mentioned, its logo had to appear on screen.
Referencing ‘Watchmen’, he said: "HBO can show us a big blue penis, no problem. I can’t say the word Schitt’s, with a c."
To kick off the ceremony, Kimmy enlisted his friend Jennifer Aniston to hand out the first award of the evening – but the pair managed to set the stage on fire.
Before announcing the winner, Jimmy sprayed the envelope with disinfectant before throwing it into a bin and setting it ablaze.
While the former ‘Friends’ actress had a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, it spread to other papers and neither of the stars noticed the blaze getting bigger and bigger as Jennifer read out the winner.
Fortunately, they were alerted off camera, and the ‘Morning Show’ star grabbed the extinguisher again to put it out completely.