For National Presidential Joke Day, I present the variety talk show nominees at the Emmy Awards

Happy National Presidential Joke Day! To celebrate, I am covering Emmy nominations of shows that make jokes about the President, which are variety talk shows. To begin, here are the nominations from the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards entry on Wikipedia.

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

The favorite is "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," which won four Emmy Awards last year and is the four-time returning winner in this category. It also has the most nominations this year, eight. Next comes "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" with five, six counting "Between the Scenes," followed by "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" with two, four if one counts her short form shows, putting her ahead of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" each with three and that last only if one counts Kimmel's short form spinoffs. As I wrote last year, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" leads variety talk shows in Emmy Awards nominations yet again.

Follow over the jump for the variety talk show nominations listed at the Wikipedia entry for the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series

Between The Scenes - The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee Presents: Pandemic Video Diaries (TBS)
National Geographic Presents Cosmos: Creating Possible Worlds (National Geographic)
Pose: Identity, Family, Community (FX)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Out of the Closet (VH1)

"Creating Saturday Night Live," Last year's winner, is not returning, but last year's nominees "Pose: Identity, Family, Community" and "RuPaul's Drag Race: Out of the Closet" are. On that basis, I consider them the nominal favorites, although I've been finding Samantha Bee's Pandemic Video Diaries to be hilarious and Trevor Noah won his one Emmy Award for "Between The Scenes - The Daily Show." Between the two variety talk nominees, I'd say Noah has the better shot at the award.

Outstanding Short Form Variety Series

Beeing at Home with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta Uncut Interviews (Netflix)
Carpool Karaoke: The Series (Apple Music)
Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues (YouTube/JimmyKimmelLive)
The Randy Rainbow Show (YouTube)

The variety talk nominees here are Samantha Bee and Jimmy Kimmel. Between the two of them, I'd favor Bee. However, "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" is the returning winner, so I think it's the actual favorite. It's also the only nomination for James Corden as a producer, who has no other nominations. That's quite a change from two years ago, when I wrote I learned not to dismiss James Corden. Finally, I'm thrilled to see Randy Rainbow earn a nomination. I should get around to embedding his hilarious videos here one of these days.

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" is the returning winner in this category and has won it four years in a row, so I consider it the favorite. All of the other nominees for Outstanding Variety Talk Series have nominations here except for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Instead, "Late Night with Seth Meyers" has the slot. Meyers also has another nomination for writing.

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special

Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones, written by Dave Chappelle (Netflix)
Hannah Gadsby: Douglas, written by Hannah Gadsby (Netflix)
John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, written by John Mulaney and Marika Sawyer (Netflix)
Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything, written by Patton Oswalt (Netflix)
Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby, written by Seth Meyers (Netflix)

Wow! No matter who wins, Netflix does as well. As for who I'd bet on, it would be between Dave Chappelle and Patton Oswalt.

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series

Dime Davis, A Black Lady Sketch Show (Episode: "Born at Night, But Not Last Night") (HBO)
David Paul Meyer, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Episode: "Dr. Fauci Answers Trevor's Questions About Coronavirus") (Comedy Central)
Paul Pennolino and Christopher Werner, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Episode: "Episode 629") (HBO)
Jim Hoskinson, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Episode: "Live Show; Chris Christie; Nathaniel Rateliff") (CBS)
Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live (Episode: "Host: Eddie Murphy") (NBC)
Linda Mendoza, Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready (Episode: "Flame Monroe") (Netflix)

SNL won this award last year and the two years before that, so I expect they will win it again.

Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – Mike Choi, Tom Favilla, Nikolai Johnson, Mark Paone, Erin Shannon, Catherine Trasborg, Einar Westerlund, Robert York (Episode: "Trump's Coronavirus Address (Bloopers Included) And Trevor's Audience Tribute Song") (Comedy Central)
Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones – Jeff U'Ren (Netflix)
Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor – Brad Gilson, Chester G. Contaoi, Jon Alloway, Pi Ware, Brian Forbes (PBS)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – Ryan Barger (Episode: "Eat Shit Bob! (segment)") (HBO)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – Anthony Miale (Episode: "The Journey of ChiiJohn: Chapter 2 (segment)") (HBO)

Just as it has for Outstanding Variety Talk Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, "Last Week Tonight" has won this four years in a row, so it's the favorite. My only concern is that its two nominations might split the vote and let another nominees slip past.

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Episode: "Jessie Reyez") (Comedy Central)
Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (Netflix)
62nd Grammy Awards (ABC)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Episode: "Episode 629") (HBO)
The Oscars (ABC)

As I wrote in 'Tiger King' vs. 'McMillion$' — big cats and true crime at the Emmy Awards for World Lion Day, "my experience is that music [programs] have the best track record in sound categories," which makes the "62nd Grammy Awards" the favorite with "The Oscars" close behind.

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Episode: "The Spite Store") (HBO)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Episode: "Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Brooklyn") (ABC)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Episode: "Episode 629") (HBO)
Saturday Night Live (Episode: "Host: Woody Harrelson") (NBC)
The Voice (Episode: "Live Finale") (NBC)

"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" won this category last year, so I consider it the nominal favorite, although I really think SNL could sneak past it.

Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics

The Black Godfather (Song: "Letter to My Godfather") (HBO)
Euphoria (Episode: "And Salt the Earth Behind You") (Song: "All for Us") (HBO)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Episode: "Episode 629") (Song: "Eat Sh!t, Bob") (HBO)
Little Fires Everywhere (Episode: "Find a Way") (Song: "Build It Up") (Hulu)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Episode: "Strike Up the Band") (Song: "One Less Angel") (Prime Video)
This Is Us (Episode: "Strangers") (Song: "Memorized") (NBC)
Watchmen (Episode: "This Extraordinary Being") (Song: "The Way It Used to Be") (HBO)

When I watched this episode, I had a feeling that the song would earn an Emmy nomination. I'm glad to see that I was right. Here it is: Last Week Tonight: Eat Shit, Bob: The Musical.


Now that's the way to end a season!