When it comes to the annual Primetime Emmy Awards telecast, the major broadcast networks take turns handling production and distribution of the television awards show extravaganza. For the 70th annual event, which is slated to go down on Monday, September 17th at 8 pm ET, it’s NBC’s turn to handle the reigns. Instead of going with one of the network’s two current late night talk show hosts (Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers), as they did in 2010 and 2014, NBC has instead decided to christen Saturday Night Live stars and co-head writers Michael Che and Colin Jost for the job.
In a press release, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt declared that the network “is thrilled to be the home of this year’s Emmy Awards and with Colin and Michael in the driver’s seat as hosts, along with surprise appearances by other cast members of Saturday Night Live, I think we are in for one of the funniest awards shows in a long time.” Che and Jost, who also co-host SNL‘s “Weekend Update” segments, added, “We’re proud to be the first duo hosting the Emmys since Jenna Elfman and David Hyde Pierce, and somehow that’s a real fact.”
The pair isn’t wrong, since Elfman and Pierce were in fact the most recent duo to host the Emmys (back in 1999). But hey, at least it won’t be anything quite like the 60th annual telecast in 2008, for which ABC tapped Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest as the program’s five co-hosts.
