Emmys Behind the Scenes: Producers on the Boys & Girls Clubs Running Joke, Eric Dane’s Absence, Nate Bargatze’s Performance and More

Sunday night’s running joke about the Boys and Girls Clubs was a success, if you’re considering the duration of this year’s Emmy Awards. Producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, and Jennae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment told reporters as much shortly after the performance at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles concluded.

As Rouzan-Clay stated, “The show wasn’t that long, so it worked.” She is correct, as the Emmys concluded at approximately 8:02 p.m. A. PT 11:02 p.m. A. ET. The winners were so adept at sticking to their speeches being brief at one point during the show that the Emmys were truly running behind schedule.

“We were hovering around about a minute or two minutes over halfway through, and then it just started to spread a little bit,” Collins remarked. It simply fluctuated throughout the night. “”.

The Emmys were all in after host Nate Bargatze came up with the idea to include the Boys & Girls Clubs in the Emmy mix. The plan: Bargatze would donate $100,000 to the charity to start the evening. He would then deduct $1,000 for each additional second that speeches were longer than the allotted 45 seconds for thank-yous, and add $1,000 for each additional second that winners’ speeches ended earlier. Even though the deficit was huge by the end of the evening, Bargatze himself contributed an additional $250,000, and CBS also contributed $100,000.

“I believe it went quite well,” Collins remarked. “Look, they ended up with $350,000 when they started with an expectation of $100,000. Therefore, I believe that the Boys & Girls Club benefited from it. “.”.

Early in the evening, the winners were following Bargatze’s advice and giving brief speeches; by the end of the evening, however, those thank-yous were growing longer, and those on stage merely pledged to contribute their own funds to the pot. According to Harmon, “I thought that most people spoke from the heart, and those who had longer speeches continued to have longer speeches, while those who had shorter ones kind of made moments of it, or maybe it was because they won multiple times.”. However, there was a balance, and I didn’t get the impression that someone was holding something in. “”.

Here are a few more important questions from the Emmys on Sunday night.

Producers had planned to use a reference to the 20th anniversary of “Grey’s Anatomy,” but Eric Dane abruptly canceled his appearance as a presenter. “.”.

Dane and fellow “Grey’s Anatomy” alumnus Jesse Williams were supposed to present the Emmy for directing for a drama series together, as was first announced. However, Dane, who revealed his ALS diagnosis in April, was ultimately unable to go.

“The specifics of that are unknown to me,” Collins remarked. He couldn’t make it, I was just informed. Jesse was fortunate enough to be able to present alone. “”.

The initial idea for Dane and Williams was to merely celebrate the “Grey’s” anniversary; it wasn’t very complex. In Dane’s absence, the producers chose to omit the mention. Rouzan-Clay stated, “But there wasn’t a set or anything.”. Simply put, it was a celebration between the two of them. “”.

The first “Philo T. Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day of “Saturday Night Live” wrote the “Farnsworth” sketch, which was evocative of Bargatze’s “George Washington” skits. It was also accepted by “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels due to its “SNL” feel (cast members Day, James Austin Johnson, and Bowen Yang appeared alongside Bargatze).

“Probably three or four weeks ago,” Collins said, the sketch came to life. The ability to accomplish that was fantastic. And Lorne gave it his blessing so we could proceed. We adored the George Washington tone on the flip, but their execution was excellent.

It was decided not to have Bargatze perform a conventional monologue opener after the sketch was finished.

Collins stated, “Once we focused on the sketch that turned into the monologue.”. He then behaved appropriately. By then, he wasn’t Nate. After the prize, there was a brief change, and then the show was more welcoming. “.”.

“As well as explaining the Boys & Girls Club piece,” Harmon added. “.”.

This year, there were no significant set pieces or scenes cut for time.

Collins stated, “Nate ended up not using some of the items that were in his back pocket.”. But in my opinion, those were more imaginative decisions. “”.

It is true that Bargatze’s denim joke, which she made when introducing host Sydney Sweeney, was a reference to the recent controversy surrounding her American Eagle denim campaign.

Collins affirmed, “Yes, that was his joke toward that.”.

As the first presenter of the evening, Stephen Colbert was selected to present the comedy Emmy for best lead actor in order to start the show off with a strong moment. And it was successful: Colbert received a standing ovation from the entire Peacock Theatre.

Harmon said, “He deserved that.”. “We all felt like it was a moment for him to walk out on that stage, to be the first award,” Collins continued. We were only happy that he was prepared to do it. We thought it would be a moment. “”.

Rouzan-Clay also described Colbert’s heartfelt speech as the talk show winner as “a nice wrap-around at the end.”.

In addition, this year’s Emmys began with two major honors: Jennifer Coolidge presented the lead actress in a comedy series Emmy immediately after Colbert and the comedy lead actor category.

After Jen Coolidge and Colbert, Collins stated, “we wanted to give Colbert an award with some weight to it, and just like we had such great presenters, let’s do it.”. added.

Rouzan-Clay: “You also want to maintain your audience’s interest and involvement from the start to the end.”. You don’t want to have everything at the back or front load it. “”.

The Jesse Collins Entertainment team acknowledges that producing the Emmys while they were nominated for two variety shows (the Super Bowl Halftime and the Beyoncé Bowl) was a little out of the ordinary.

“When you’re up for something and it’s live, and you’re sitting there wondering, ‘What’s going to happen?'” Harmon remarked.

The winner of the category was, of course, “SNL50: The Anniversary Special.”. Collins declared, “Lorne Michaels is an icon, of course.”. “What he did for ‘SNL,’ it’s a fantastic conclusion to the ‘SNL 50’ narrative.”. “.”.

Although Beyoncé’s publicist was present, it was never entirely certain if she and Jay-Z would actually be attending the Emmys.

“When they weren’t in the seats, we figured it out,” Collins stated. “Oh, you guys aren’t coming.”.

Securing a segment devoted to “The Golden Girls” was the first step in this year’s mix of reunions and tributes. “.”.

With “Golden Girls,” we took the lead, Rouzan-Clay stated. That was a significant one. Upon realizing that the show would air 40 years from now, we knew we had to perform “Golden Girls.”. And in my opinion, “Law and Order” was the last to unite. However, after deciding which ones we wanted to hit, we sort of set out to find them. The one that people were most excited about was “Gilmore Girls.”. It was enjoyable, then. “.”.

The lead singer of the “The Golden Girls” theme song, Reba McEntire, recommended that Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman from Little Big Town be included.

Collins told “Entertainment Tonight,” “The thing about that song is it’s a country song, and we had a lot of help from Reba on casting it.”. And she adores those women. “Let’s just use the trio,” we thought. “.”.

Real props from the show were used in the “Survivor” tribute, thanks to host Jeff Probst.

“We got props from Jeff!” Collins exclaimed. It was unexpected for both contestants, though, that Michaels and John Oliver were excluded as members of a “tribal council” that decided who would win the scripted variety category. Rouzan-Clay remarked, “On that one, we went rogue.”. Collins added: “We’re just saying, let’s roll. We won’t inquire. We will subsequently apologize.

Harmon produced the “Grace for the World” live concert event for Disney+ at St. John’s Cathedral in the Vatican just hours before the Emmys. Andrea Bocelli and Pharrell Williams co-directed Peter’s sq\..

In addition to being the first concert ever in St. Harmon remarked, “Peter’s sq\. at the Vatican.”. John Legend, Pharrell, Jennifer Hudson, Andrea Bocelli, and many others were present. The drones were a major component. Over the Vatican, three thousand drones were present. It’s an absolutely amazing show. At six in the morning, we boarded a plane. A. arrived here immediately after landing the following morning. We’re here, and I’m going to have a great night’s sleep. “”.

It will be a while before Collins and company know if they will return to produce the Emmys for the fourth time in a row, this time on NBC.

“Typically, they meet in the spring,” Collins stated. We would then enter and present our case at that point. “.”.

Next up, the Super Bowl halftime show producing team will once again include Jesse Collins Entertainment. However, they aren’t prepared to reveal any information, including whether Taylor Swift will actually be performing.

“Who’s playing? I have no idea!” Collins joked.