SNL’s Colin Jost and Michael Che are hoping that their stint as co-hosts of this year’s Emmy Awards can be more about entertainment and less about politics.
The team that brings you Saturday Night Live’s often politically-charged “Weekend Update” segment seem to be looking to go in a different direction for their Emmys show appearance, according to their comments to Vanity Fair.
“There’s a lot to celebrate in television right now. It’s a very strong time,” Jost told the entertainment magazine.
Indeed, even as the pair are known mostly for their political humor, Jost insisted that they want to go to a different place with their co-hosting duties. “It is kind of fun for us to do something that is not political,” Jost said.
“The exciting part is to do things about television and that particular awards ceremony and make it, in general, less political than normal. There’s a lot to celebrate in television right now. It’s a very strong time,” Jost added.
Still, Jost did have a (hopeful) joke about the #MeToo movement saying, “I think that by [the Emmys], people are going to be desperate to give men a chance, finally.” In fact, maybe it will be “#HeToo by then,” Jost snarked.
On the other hand, both are acutely aware that some comedy just will not fly in today’s #MeToo era.
“Things that were on our show 15, 20 years ago probably couldn’t air today. Obviously, going back further than that, everything is just, you couldn’t do it today,” Jost told the magazine. “But even when I started, some of the things on the show. it’d be like, ‘This show has to end’ if it aired now.”
But maybe there is one political thing the pair might be happy to delve into on Emmy night. When asked what shows they hope will get awards, they both chimed in with “Roseanne.”
“But just the politics,” Jost chuckled. “I don’t like the comedy; I only like the politics.”
The 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air on NBC on Monday, September 17.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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