Bill Maher, John Oliver and James Corden land Emmy nods
By Hector Cruz
Real Time with Bill Maher, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Late Late Show with James Corden are among the late-night shows nominated for Emmy Awards.
After being snubbed last year, Bill Maher was once again nominated for an Emmy Award on Thursday in the revised Outstanding Variety Talk Series category for Real Time, joining his HBO colleague John Oliver, who received his first nod for Last Week Tonight last year, along with first timers The Late Late Show with James Corden and Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web series. Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon round out the category.
Maher’s Real Time failed to secure a nomination last year for the first time in a decade, instead receiving recognition for his Live from D.C. stand-up special, and as producer on HBO’s Vice, after being edged out by the final season of The Late Show with David Letterman, which owned the category for five consecutive years before The Daily Show with Jon Stewart began dominating it in 2001.
The field was shook up this year due to the exit of The Colbert Report, which was the only talk show to win in the category other than The Daily Show in the past 13 years, as well as the retirements of Jon Stewart and David Letterman, with their successors failing to land their respective franchises a nomination this year. The other late-night series that were snubbed in the main category include Late Night with Seth Meyers, TBS’ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Conan, as well as The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, which replaced The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Additionally, perennial nominee Saturday Night Live was moved to the newly created Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category, opening up yet another slot. Amy Schumer, Larry David, Tina Fey, Kate McKinnon, Amy Poehler, Tracy Morgan and Melissa McCarthy were all nominated for their work on SNL.
Maher recently revealed his true feelings on the men who consistently beat him at the Emmy Awards for the past 13 years, telling The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert “never say anything that challenges their own audience.”
Meanwhile, Corden is capping off his first successful year since replacing Craig Ferguson as host of The Late Late Show with a total of four Emmy nods, including one for the show’s prime time Carpool Karaoke special in the Outstanding Variety Special category. “We were desperate to succeed and make an impact, but we didn’t expect anything like this,” Late Late Show executive producer Ben Winston told Deadline after the nominations were announced.
Next: The Daily Show, Colbert and Samantha Bee snubbed by Emmys
Visit emmys.com for the full list of nominees at this year’s Emmy Awards. The ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air September 18 on ABC.
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