'Desi Lydic Foxsplains Trump's Big Beautiful Ballroom' plus the short form nominees at the Emmy Awards

I told my readers to "stay tuned for coverage of the Emmy Awards...nominees," so I'm following through with one of the nominees, Desi Lydic Foxsplains Trump's Big Beautiful Ballroom | The Daily Show.

Desi Lydic Foxsplains why Donald Trump's golden palace of dance is great for all Americans... even if they can't actually see, touch, or use it.

On the one hand, HAHAHAHA! On the other, I'm recycling what I wrote in Meyers, 'The Daily Show,' Kimmel, and the Marsh Family take closer looks at the royal visit.

I'm repeating what I wrote yesterday.

Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump doubling down on his ballroom and going after Kimmel and James Comey is just him pursuing his pet projects. It's also an example of "never let a good crisis go to waste." It's just a shame that the projects being pursued are so petty.

Even more of a shame that he's getting so many to go along with him, including shifting its funding from private donors to the taxpayers. Ugh.

That's not the most recent video in the Desi Lydic Foxsplains playlist. Desi Lydic on How "Foxsplains" Came to Be - After the Cut | The Daily Show is.

Desi Lydic describes how her Emmy-winning Foxsplains segment was born out of necessity during the early days of the Covid pandemic[.]

"I'm not either." I second that emotion!

Follow over the jump for the short form nominees.

Drink to Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show's Emmy nominations on National Piña Colada Day

Happy National Piña Colada Day! Like last year, the day is doing double duty by toasting nominees of an awards show, the creative people behind Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. I begin with Gold Derby reporting Bad Bunny bouncing towards the Emmys as his Super Bowl halftime show scores unprecedented 9 nominations.

Puerto Rican superstar, who tallied three Grammys earlier this year, looks to add another statuette to his burgeoning collection.
...
Bad Bunny conquered the Grammys. Now he's coming for the Emmy Awards.

As Gold Derby predicted in January, the Puerto Rican superstar — whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — scored a nomination Wednesday for Best Variety Special (Live) for his sizzling, much-scrutinized halftime show at Sunday's Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. The special was one of the most-nominated programs, receiving nine total bids, including Production Design for a Variety Special, Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming, Directing for a Variety Special, Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program, Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Special, Music Direction, Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special, and Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Special. That marks a record for a halftime show.

People listed Bad Bunny's competitors for Best Variety Special (Live).

The milestone comes after the performance drew a staggering 128.2 million viewers, making it the fourth-most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history. The show is also nominated for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), where it will compete against four major awards ceremonies: the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, the Oscars and the 78th Annual Tony Awards.

I'm not going to handicap this category today; Gold Derby has its prediction page for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards up, but no one seems to have made a prediction in this category. When enough predictions have been tallied, I'll return to this category. On the other hand, the Super Bowl Halftime Show is leading the odds for Variety Special Directing and Music Direction; Gold Derby is not making predictions in the craft categories. I'll look at those when I examine Gold Derby's prediction for Variety Special (Live).

As I noted in February, Bad Bunny's performance elicited some controversy. Back to Gold Derby.

Going into the Super Bowl, there was much right-wing consternation over the NFL's selection of Bad Bunny for the coveted slot, given that he performs in Spanish — often wearing dresses — and is a vocal critic of Trump administration policies. The MAGA crowd went so far as to counterprogram in the form of a widely lampooned Kid Rock-led show for Turning Point USA.

I'll let Emmy winner and returning Emmy nominee Desi Lydic mock this reaction in Desi Lydic Foxsplains Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show | The Daily Show.

Desi Lydic Foxsplains the outrage over the un-American, un-manly, and un-known superstar slated for the Super Bowl halftime show: Bad Bunny.

HAHAHAHA! No wonder she earned another two nominations!

Now to drink to Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl Halftime Show's Emmy nominations with PINIA COLADA FOR #badbunny SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW (sic).


That was misspelled and really should have used a Bad Bunny song, like piña colada y bad bunny.


There, better.

That's a wrap for today's holiday celebrating Puerto Rico. Stay tuned for World Population Day on National Mojito Day.

Previous posts about the 2026 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards

• 'The Tale of Silyan' vs 'The Librarians' for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking at the Emmy Awards

Desi Lydic examines 'How Harassed Election Officials Impact Elections'

It's time for another examination of the 2022 midterm elections through comedy, beginning with Desi Lydic examining How Harassed Election Officials Impact Elections on "The Daily Show."*

Desi Lydic takes a look at the decline in election officials due to the harassment they face.

The bad news is the high level of harassment incited by The Former Guy continued into 2022 even though he was not on the ballot. The good news is that volunteers stepped up to staff the polling places so the poll worker shortage that Desi examined in the previous installment didn't materialize. Watch How Poll Worker Shortages Impact Elections.

Is being a poll worker a thankless job or an incredibly thankless job? Desi Lydic investigates the reasons behind the poll worker shortage and how it's affecting the integrity of elections.

The possibility of not enough poll workers wasn't the only potential shortage threatening the elections. Desi began the series with Desi Lydic Investigates Paper Shortages Affecting Upcoming Elections.

The most pressing issue leading up to the midterm elections is…a paper shortage? Desi Lydic investigates.

Supply chain issues affected the election, too.  As I've written many times before, everything is connected to everything else.

Watching these segments reminds me that I should view segments by Jordan Klepper, the other Emmy-nominated cast member of "The Daily Show." If I do so, it will be after I cover more awards shows and recap tomorrow night's "Saturday Night Live" episode. Stay tuned.

*It won't be "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" after the end of this month, as Trevor is leaving the show. I'll miss him, but I'm looking forward to whoever replaces him. I hope they'll be just as insightful and funny.