Mariska Hargitay opens Emmys with TV dancers, SVU jokes and Kidman cameo
Mariska Hargitay was carried onto the stage by backup dancers with TVs on their heads to open the 78th Emmy Awards.
The ceremony took place on Sept. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, as reported by Variety. The primetime telecast, the main evening broadcast, aired live on NBC and streamed on Peacock at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, according to NBC.
Hargitay is the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years, since Jane Lynch hosted in 2011. She followed Nate Bargatze, who hosted once and did not return. She knows the room well, with 10 Emmy nominations and three wins to her name.
She leaned straight into her long run on Law & Order: SVU. She joked she had been on the show for all of the Emmys' 78 years — and for all of NBC's 100 years. Then came her explanation for the hosting gap: "For 15 straight years, Amy and Tina said no."
She saved a stretch of the monologue for Law & Order: SVU creator Dick Wolf. She noted he has made more than 40 shows, with 13 currently on the air. Then she undercut the tribute. His real name, she joked, is "Richard Penis."
The biggest laugh of the night came from the movies. Hargitay launched into a parody of Nicole Kidman's AMC advertisement, the cinema spot familiar to filmgoers. Kidman interrupted from her seat in the audience: "That's mine. That's my bit." Hargitay shot back: "Zip it, movie lady! It's TV's turn tonight!"
The opening also included a pre-recorded sketch with Hargitay alongside Jalen Brunson, Jean Smart and Jennifer Coolidge.
Hargitay opened the night already a winner. She had collected two Emmys ahead of the primetime show for directing and producing My Mom Jayne, a documentary about her mother Jayne Mansfield. Ahead of the ceremony, she said hosting was a great honour and that bringing important stories into the light has been the heartbeat of her career, according to the Television Academy.
For viewers at home, it meant a host who could joke about television history while living it.
