John Mulaney was supposed to present the award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series at Monday’s Emmy Awards, but he added something extra: a treatise on what it means to be a man these days.
The comedian began by mentioning the category while jokingly noting that “this award is for the guys. Just men being men. Finally, something for the fellas.”
After praising the nominees in the category as “a crop of prom kings” who aren’t “soft like the dad on ‘Bluey,’” he got to the real issue: how male actors have suffered for their art.
“Since the creation of television, men have been historically unrepresented. For the first three years TV existed, there were no men on it. It was just beauty contests and children talking to hand puppets until the early ’60s, until a man walked out and said, ‘Enough! My name is Fonzie and the president has been shot.’”
Mulaney then turned to the nominees, whom he referred to as “sweat hogs.”
“Some of the men in this category do method acting, and some do regular, less annoying acting,” he said. “But no matter what, when these fellows hit their mark, they know all their lines. Why? Because they started looking at their sides earlier that morning.”
Mulaney then pumped up the nominated actors by noting, “They can play anything, these nominees, not just doctors. They can play a cop, an FBI agent, or a secret agent. And then that’s it. No other examples.”
The comedian then pulled out a deep-cut reference: DJ Khaled’s 2018 admission that he didn’t perform oral sex on his wife.
“These nominees know that that is B.S.,” he said, adding. “They know there’s often less pressure on them if they do that first.”
Mulaney then read a passage from Frank Vincent’s 2007 book “A Guy’s Guide To Being a Man’s Man,” which he noted he borrowed from the Glendale library.
“A man’s man can be wearing the best clothes, drinking the finest wine, sitting with the most beautiful woman in Las Vegas, but if he doesn’t treat everyone around him with respect and class, he’s not a real man’s man. He’s just a jabroni in a good suit,” Mulaney said before pivoting, “And the nominees for lead actor in a drama are … ”
You can see the moment below.
And, yes, tongues were wagging on social media about his jokes.