“How much free media can any one person get?” asked the producer in a press conference after the Emmys, implying that just by bringing up Trump’s name, Kimmel and others helped the GOP nominee’s cause. He even made Jeb Bush seem current.
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“Good one”, Kimmel quipped. “Did you win?” This drew a huge laugh from the audience.
In his opening monologue Kimmel took every opportunity he could to make a few more O.J. Simpson jokes, asking the real Marcia Clarke, who sat beside double nominee Sarah Paulson, if she was rooting for O.J.to win this time.
Kimmel wondered aloud if Trump would be running for President of the United States if it weren’t for television. “He would be at home right now, quietly rubbing up against his wife Melania while she pretends to be asleep”.
Feigning annoyance as Oliver departed, Kimmel faced heckling from Matt Damon, with whom he was shared a famous make-believe feud for years.
In a nod to the controversy over Damon’s The Martian winning a comedy award at the Golden Globes despite having little humour, Kimmel began to argue that the talk show prize was supposed to go to an “American guy” when Damon interrupted.
“You must be bummed out”, said Damon, strolling onstage and nonchalantly eating an apple.
“He calls women pigs if they don’t look like beauty pageant contestants, he blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems, he makes fun of disabled people”, she said angrily.
Kimmel put Burnett in the crosshairs Sunday when joking that, since Burnett more or less oversaw Trump’s rise to fame on NBC’s reality TV series “The Apprentice”, that he is responsible for Trump’s presidential bid. “So you’re not going to get a trophy?”
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Moments later, the ever-nimble Kimmel gained his comeuppance when he introduced the next presenter as, “finally, a Damon with talent”. It was his effortless skill delivering words – amusing and shrewd – all the way through.
