Jimmy Kimmel took the 68th Emmys stage this year and did everything but hold back with his opening monologue, like any good host should. Keeping a straight face nearly the whole time, he enjoyed poking fun at televisions A-list, Hollywood’s diversity problem and took a large hit at the one and only Donald Trump.
Kimmel started the show with a rough ride through some of the nominated television shows on his way to the Emmys. He found himself in the back of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase, then with the cast of "Modern Family," James Corden, Jeb Bush even made a surprise appearance “in between jobs,” before finally Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) saved the day on one of her dragons, safely landing him at the award show (and hilariously burning pre-show host Ryan Secrest along the way).
Safely on the stage, Kimmel told the crowd “I want to do one quick thing before we get started, just give me one moment if you would,” as he was running to hand Jeffrey Tambour his automatic-win Emmy in the audience.
Back on stage, Kimmel was glad to have saved “22 minutes” from the night.
His second order was to bring to light that Sarah Paulson brought former O.J. Simpson prosecutor and her "American Crime Story" character Marcia Clark with her to the ceremony. Kimmel gave it to her by asking, “So, are you rooting for O.J. to win tonight?”
He wasn’t done with O.J. yet, welcoming John Travolta back to television and then telling the crowd that Cuba Gooding Jr. that he played O.J. Simpson’s character so well, that he honestly believed that Cuba committed the crime.
Cuba’s reaction got Kimmel to laugh, warming the crowd more.
Before bringing up the diversity card, Kimmel subtly called out "Game Of Thrones’" infamous sex scenes and Louis Anderson for playing a 50-year-old woman on television. Then, he made sure to point out that how diverse year’s nominees were, and that Hollywood would have wanted to make sure that he pointed this out.
“The only thing we value more than diversity is how much we value diversity,” he said.
Then it was time for the inevitable, Donald Trump.
He started by saying, “if it weren't for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? No.”
He then went to pointing fingers and placed complete blame for Trump’s rise on Mark Burnett, Celebrity Apprentice creator, which gave Trump a sensationalist reality platform. He went so far as to call him a “sneaky little crumpet-muncher” (From Kimmel’s famous Halloween special).
“If Donald Trump gets elected and he builds that wall,” Kimmel jokingly threatened, “the first one going over is Mark Burnett.”
Kimmel ended his monologue with his best material involving none other than Dame Maggie Smith. He went out of his way to show the well-known actress has won multiple Emmys, but never showed up to accept the award. So he decided this year, you have to be present to win the award.
He closed by telling the 81-year-old actress to "get [her] Dowager Count-ass over here,” with a round of laughs to start the night.
