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And just when you thought we were done talking about Nate Bargatze’s performance hosting the Emmys two weeks ago, the conversation continues. By Nate. In the familiar, comfortable setting of his own podcast, Nate shared some backstory on the gimmick he came up with for trying to curb acceptance speeches. He promised at the top of the show to donate $100,000 of his personal funds to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, with the caveat that he would add to or subtract from that figure based on the length of every acceptance speech, at a rate of $1,000 per second. How’d that work out? Nate ended up donating $250k, padding to cover the extensive overage in time (and deficit in money earned). The idea could have worked, possibly, but it was undermined by the fact that… it was the only thing Nate prepared!! (Sorry, he did make a half-assed “subtle” joke via wardrobe, but few caught it.) Anyway, here’s Nate ruminating on how he thought the bit would play out:
Nate Bargatze proved to be a charitable, generous man at the 77th Emmy Awards — not that he especially planned to be.
The stand-up comic said on his Nateland podcast that he never planned on donating $250,000 of his own money to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as he did at the end of the Emmys.
“I had it in my head one way. It kind of came out another way, but — the reasoning was there,” Bargatze said of the running gag. “I wasn’t gonna give that money at the end, like, I wasn’t thinking I was gonna have to. But the way it went, I was like, ‘I can’t — I’m not gonna not …’”
The bit went like this: Bargatze, while opening the live awards show, pledged $100,000 of his own money to the Boys & Girls Clubs. Awesome. Even awesome-r, for every tick under 45 seconds a winner’s acceptance speech lasted, Bargatze would add another $1,000 from his own pocket. However, for every second over 45 seconds a winner went, he’d deduct $1,000 from the running tally. The bank ended up quite a bit in the red.
Bargatze says CBS had specifically asked him to come up with a way to keep acceptance speeches tight. CBS “loved” what he came up with, Bargatze said, as did “everyone at home.”
You know who didn’t? “A lot of the reviews,” Bargatze acknowledged.
…Bargatze saw this thing going a whole ‘nother way.
“I thought it was gonna be, I dunno, Netflix, or Apple,” Bargatze said on Nateland’s 271st episode. “If someone was giving these long speeches, I just thought they could be like, ‘and Netflix is gonna cover my overage.’”
“In my head, I pictured they could then go long, but then be a hero,” he said. “But I think I could have explained it more, to be honest.”
And he almost did. Bargatze said he “almost sent an email out” ahead of the show to explain the game and what he hoped to accomplish with it. A good idea, in hindsight.
Wait, he thought the big studios would pick up the tab for their own winners? For a premise they weren’t aware of nor agreed to ahead of time? Now that’s funny, Nate! How woefully naive, bless his heart. Also, did he basically just admit that his plan was to say he’d be donating… and then not actually donate? Some other notes: for one, he kept using the refrain “in my head.” Did he not have a team of writers for this? I think it’s imperative to have a collaborative effort for hosting an awards show for the very reason that not everything unfolds in real life the way the way you imagine it will in your own head. Along those lines, if you think your gag might benefit from a detailed email of rules sent out before the ceremony, then it’s not ready for primetime. And finally — though this is more for the network than Bargatze — if you really want to cut show length, please look first to the unnecessary reunions and tributes and musical/modern dance interpretations of gathering in front of the television. It’s really that simple! Then again, the ratings were way up this year, so what do I know…
