Jimmy Kimmel Joins Emmys 2016 Red Carpet Rollout, Jokes About Hosting
Under perfect blue sky conditions and temperatures sure to make journalists thankful this year, second-time Emmy host Jimmy Kimmel joined Emmy Awards Executive Producer Don Mischer and Television Academy Chairman/CEO Bruce Rosenblum for the Emmys red carpet rollout outside of the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday morning.
Extending to 1,325 feet, this year’s carpet symbolically represents the ever-expanding TV landscape.
“Television is entertainment’s dominant medium now,” Rosenblum told Variety. “Every corner of the world will be watching on Sunday.”
“It’s an exceptionally good year for television,” Mischer told the crowd. The 14-year veteran producer and 15-time Emmy winner announced the final awards presenter for this year’s telecast, two-time Emmy nominee Tom Hiddleston, up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, and Outstanding Limited Series in his own Executive Producer role.
Mischer also announced that Henry Winkler will introduce this year’s In Memoriam segment, alongside Best New Artist Grammy nominee Tori Kelly, who will perform. Winkler will pay tribute to “Happy Days” creator Garry Marshall, who died in July.
Hiddleston joins the final group of Emmy presenters announced earlier Wednesday, which includes Kyle Chandler, Bryan Cranston, Claire Danes, Michelle Dockery, Minnie Driver, Tony Goldwyn, Terrence Howard, Allison Janney, Rami Malek, Abigail Spencer, and Kiefer Sutherland.
They’ll be joined as presenters by recent Creative Arts Awards Emmy winners Hank Azaria, Margo Martindale, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Peter Scolari.
Kimmel – with his trusty sidekick Guillermo by his side — showed up in a jovial mood. “Congrats to O.J. on all of his accomplishments in TV this year,” he joked. “We have the longest red carpet in history because it’s going to be the longest Emmy’s broadcast in history.”
Asked by Variety if he was concerned about his jokes getting hacked before the big day, the funnyman responded, “Emmy jokes are the least of my concerns if I get hacked. What worries me is that all of the horrible things my friends and I say to each other could potentially be revealed.”
So, what else keeps Kimmel up at night leading up to the big day?
“The hardest part is figuring out which (ideas) to actually do. Some of them sound great in a room full of writers, and they might not be so great in practice. So, for me, it’s whittling!”
When asking which Emmy nominee he’d want most for a bedroom invasion (per his show’s popular recurring skit), he answered, “I’d like to be invaded by Bryan Cranston. Who wouldn’t want to be invaded by Bryan Cranston? He’s LBJ!”
The 2016 Emmy Awards will air September 18 on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
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