The 2025 Emmys need a host! And we’ve got some ideas.
The Television Academy has cemented Sept. 14 as the date for the 2025 Emmys (see the updated calendar), so now is the perfect time to start thinking about who'd make the perfect host. And we've got some ideas.
First and foremost, Emmy hosts have to be fun. Likable. Energetic. Great on their feet. And, apparently, father-son duos are in.
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Following last year's successful team-up of Eugene Levy and Dan Levy, we'd love to see the tradition continue on with Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They tick all of the above boxes and — bonus points — are currently headlining the sitcom Poppa's House on CBS, the same network that's broadcasting this year's Emmy Awards. That gives them an inside advantage, as the host almost always has a working relationship with the home network.
Wayans Sr. is a four-time Emmy nominee for writing and acting on the seminal sketch-comedy series In Living Color, while Wayans Jr. is still looking for his first Emmy bid (he was, however, recognized at the Critics Choice Awards for the cult fave Happy Endings). Poppa's House is a freshman hit for CBS and recently earned noms at the American Cinema Editors Guild, the Art Directors Guild, and the NAACP Image Awards.
The big four networks (CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC) rotate airing the kudos each year. The last time CBS was home to the Emmys in 2021, it tapped Cedric the Entertainer, lead actor on the network's The Neighborhood, as the ringleader. Gold Derby's readers gave him an "A" grade for his hosting duties after he opened the COVID-era show with a live rap performance of "Just a Friend" with some help from LL Cool J, Lil Dicky, and Rita Wilson.
Other host ideas from within the CBS/Paramount family include: Queen Latifah, star of The Equalizer, who just brought the house down at the Oscars; RuPaul Charles, the 14-time Emmy-winning host and producer of RuPaul's Drag Race; Stephen Colbert, presenter of The Late Show, who previously emceed the 2017 Emmy Awards; and some of the Emmy-winning stars of The Daily Show like Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, and Desi Lydic.
Stand-up comedians are also always fun picks, and those at the top of their games are Nate Bargatze, Nikki Glaser, Chelsea Handler, and John Mulaney. Bargatze and Mulaney are SNL darlings who recently hosted during the landmark 50th season, while Glaser and Handler have already proven their worth by emceeing the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, respectively.
This is also our annual reminder that the last time the Emmys hired a woman to host was in 2011. Jane Lynch, at the height of Glee, oversaw that Fox ceremony a whopping 14 years ago. Isn't it time for another female to be offered the gig of hosting TV's biggest night?
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