Even Emmys can't stop talking Trump
There is no escaping politics this time of year and certainly not in this election, not even at the Emmy Awards.
So it was no great surprise that the presidential election — or more specifically the Republican nominee, Donald Trump — worked its way into the awards often Sunday night, as television celebrated itself.
Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the broadcast, dove right in during his opening monologue (which was funny and fast-moving): “Many have asked, who is to blame for Donald Trump? And I’ll tell you who. He’s sitting right there.”
Kimmel pointed to Mark Burnett, the reality-show producer whose hits have included “Survivor” and “The Voice” (which would later win). But that wasn’t Kimmel’s point, as he continued, making Burnett out to be a kind of TV version of Dr. Frankenstein.
“That guy. Mark Burnett. The man who brought us ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’”
That show, and “The Apprentice” before it, were of course hosted by Trump, before he turned to politics.
Burnett laughed, as Kimmel continued.
“We don’t have to watch reality shows anymore because we’re living in one. Thank you Mark.”
And:
“If Donald Trump gets elected, and he builds that wall, the first person we’re throwing over it is Mark Burnett.”
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Later Julia Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her record sixth Emmy for leading actress in a comedy (and fifth in a row for “Veep”), apologized for the hours the crew on the show, a blistering, hilarious political satire, works.
“While I’m apologizing,” she went on, “I’d also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate. I think that ‘Veep’ has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it.”
If anyone made fun of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, I didn’t hear it. Some will doubtless argue that this is another example of liberal Hollywood imposing its beliefs on everyone (and us, the liberal media, dutifully celebrating it). But come on. Much of what Trump has said and promised and bragged about has been laughable — or would be, if so many people weren’t buying it, at which point it becomes dangerous. Besides, you know Trump was somewhere gloating over the mentions.
But the best political shot was indirect. The broadcast began with a Billy-Crystal-at-the-Oscars-like taped bit in which Kimmel found himself late for the show, so he tried to get rides with the cast of “Modern Family” and James Corden, etc. Then at the 3:00 mark, a swank limo pulled up with Louis-Dreyfus, in character as the president in “Veep,” and Tony Hale as her advisor, in the back. Kimmel would sit up in the front, where the driver was … Jeb Bush.
And he was hilarious.
“You’re driving?” Kimmel asked, incredulous?
“Yeah, I’m between jobs right now,” Bush said. “You know you can make $12 an hour driving for Uber?”
Kimmel tells him he has to get downtown to the Emmys. Are you nominated, Bush asks? Yes, Kimmel says.
“Wow, what’s that like?”
Then he asks Kimmel if he thinks he can win.
“Well here’s what I know. If you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice,” Bush said. Then: “Jimmy, that was a joke.”
He kicked Kimmel out and told him to “shave that wig off your face, you godless Hollywood hippie,” before driving away yelled, “Jeb exclamation point!” When he pulled away we saw a bumper sticker with just that, his oft-derided slogan, with “2016” crossed out to read “2020.”
It was a great appearance — Bush was funny, self-effacing and while his line about voters making the right choice was indeed a joke, you wonder. Were Republicans laughing, or lamenting? Remember, they could have chosen him.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk.