ABC(LOS ANGELES) — Jimmy Kimmel hosts this year’s virtual Emmy Awards on September 20, a show he tells Variety will be very different from any of the others, but hopefully just as “fulfilling.”

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host had been taping his late night talk show show remotely from his home and without a live audience, before going on summer vacation in early June, and says he’s well prepared for what to expect.

“I’m fairly comfortable with the idea of not getting a response from an audience,” says Kimmel, who admits, “it’s more fun when you do get big laughs for the jokes you work hard on for a couple of months, but what are you gonna do?  It’s a pandemic!”

Kimmel also hopes the winners will do their part by keeping their speeches interesting.  “I hope it’s not the typical ‘Sit in front of your monitor, with a carefully selected assortment of books behind you’ situation,” he says.  “I hope that people’s families are going crazy when they win.”

Kimmel breaks down the show’s format to Variety this way: “There’s not going to be a lot of pre-tapes…The show will be mostly what we do that night.  I think if we try to do what we’ve done in the past, we’re going to fail.”

Still, Kimmel insists, “I want to make sure that it’s fulfilling and that they feel like they weren’t cheated out of the full Emmy experience…And also, along the way, we’ll make sure to pay tribute to the people who are leading us through this pandemic.”

“You know, everyone says, ‘These award shows are all the same.’ And this one is definitely not going to be the same.”

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards telecast airs September 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

By Megan Stone
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