2017 Emmys: Stephen Colbert to host, skewers Sean Spicer in statement

CBS is broadcasting the Primetime Emmy Awards this year, and CBS clearly did not want to sit around and twiddle their thumbs before making some sort of big, official announcement. In a statement roughly eight months before the start of the show, they’ve confirmed that “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert will preside over the festivities. This follows a reasonably familiar pattern in which networks give the gig to a popular late-night personality. After all, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon have all hosted this show in recent years.

In talking about his new hosting gig, Colbert decided to take a page from Donald Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer:

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period — both in person and around the globe.”

Will it be the biggest Emmys in actuality? Probably not, so there could be a double-dose of irony in what Colbert is saying here. It’s hard for any awards show in this age of competition to draw up a significant amount of viewers, and that could be even more so given all of the politics that are coming out of awards shows these days. For example, we loved Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes, but it was not well-received by many conservative viewers. These are things that could be taken into consideration for future awards shows in terms of whether or not people are actually going to watch.

It’s not all THAT unusual for a host to be announced for an Emmy broadcast many months early, but eight months is a little bit surprising. it wasn’t even all that long ago that we first learned that Kimmel was hosting the Oscars this year, though that announcement did come a little bit later than usual.

While it may still be many months away, rest assured that we will be covering the Emmys very extensively before they come on the air. This includes some of our annual predictions for who should be nominated to go along with who will be. You’ll be able to find that coverage starting in the month of June over at the link here. (Photo: Emmys.)