Nate Bargatze’s Boys & Girls Clubs Emmys Bit Was Not as Bad as You Think

One of the biggest challenges an awards show host faces is helping the producers keep time, and the number one offender is acceptance speeches. Everything else can be planned out and rehearsed, but the winners’ thank yous are unpredictable.

Live awards shows have traditionally battled the issue with music meant to play off the winner when they got longwinded — a gentle, orchestrial nudge. For a while, it worked.

When the muzak began to feel more like a suggestion than a mandate, awards shows progressively increased the overture’s volume until the winner’s audio became barely audible. It added a bit of an embarrassment factor to going long.

At one point, awards shows experimented with cutting the stage microphone off altogether; the threat front-loaded speeches and put the nominees on notice. But the extreme tactic backfired when the most heartfelt or culturally important moments were literally silenced. It was not a good look, and the boo birds in the crowd could be heard (and felt) all the way through the TV screen — whether or not the centerstage mic was on.

So, what can one do when the consensus says awards shows are way too long as it is? The production can try to get clever.

A decade ago at the 66th Emmys, host Andy Samberg put up a jet ski to the winner who gave the shortest acceptance speech, which turned out to be Jon Hamm, a person who could afford many jet skis. But it was cute, funny and harmless — Andy Samberg comedy to a “T.” Last night, as emcee of the 2025 Emmy Awards, another very funny and harmless host, Nate Bargatze, tried something like that.

At the top of the show, Bargatze pledged $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, though that was just the start. Emmy winners got 45 seconds to give their acceptance speech, and for every second they didn’t use, Bargatze added $1,000 of his own money to the donation. However, and as Bargatze put it, “This part is hard to say,” for every tick of the clock over their 45 seconds, $1,000 was deducted from the total.

The plan was presented early and perfectly by Bargatze to a tickled audience. It was, of course, always going to fail. When have you ever seen an awards show go short? There was no way the bank would end in the black, but the only real failure here was in the bit’s ongoing execution.

Many viewers, especially the very online viewers, hated the gag from the get-go. But anyone with a brain should have known that Bargatze was never going to stiff the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Not only is he a very rich and very successful standup comedian, Bargatze is a family man, a charitable guy and just generally considered to be a good dude. He is very open about his Christian faith, and has always worked clean; this charity bit is as dangerous as Nate Bargatze gets. The only real question was, how much would he tack on at the conclusion of Sunday’s Emmys to guarantee a happy ending? As it turns out, the donation was $100,000 of CBS’ money and $250,000 of Bargatze’s.

Did you seriously think he was going to invoice the 501(c)(3)?

“What an incredible night! Our heartfelt thanks to Nate Bargatze, CBS, and the Emmy Awards team for supporting Boys & Girls Clubs in such a big way,” Jim Clark, the president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, told TMZ. “It was a true honor for our Club Kids to share the stage with the night’s winners, especially knowing some of our alumni have gone on to become Emmy winners themselves.”

Bargatze announced the plan in interviews leading up to the weekend, and clearly, Clark was in on this. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America sent what seemed to be (at least) dozens of club kids to the Emmys to serve as seat fillers and stage escorts. The Emmys had multiple cutaway segments to comedian and actor JB Smoove, a Boys & Girls Clubs alum, in the crowd with the kids. Club kids served as talent wranglers following each speech, long or short.

“We are also deeply grateful to all who kept their speeches short in the spirit of this fun challenge and to maximize the impact for our young people,” Clark said. “The generous $350,000 donation from CBS and Nate is a powerful investment in the dreams and great futures of millions of young people nationwide.”

And that $350,000 doesn’t even count how much money Sunday’s Emmys raised for the Boys & Girls Clubs via the Hollywood elite (and rich) in attendance, and through viewers. We don’t actually know the grand total that came in on Sunday, Sept. 14.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America did not immediately respond to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment on other incoming donations from last night.

Last year’s Emmy Awards on ABC were watched by nearly seven million viewers. This side of the Oscars or Golden Globes, there could not have been a better stage to raise funds and awareness for such a worthy charity. It’s just that not that it all went off without a hitch. Far from it.

The real problem with the recurring bit is that it took far too much stage — and screen time. The specific setup demanded very regular check-ins, but with 26 trophies handed out in one evening, those spots proved to be too many and too much. Also, with the money generally trending in one direction — down — there were only so many ways for Bargatze to pretend he was happy for the sake of his own bank account. That was kind of the only joke.

Still, I would argue that the joke really worked for an hour or so. There was just one problem: the Emmys are three hours long (plus three minutes, in this year’s case). The gag became monotonous, and really stifled one of the great comedians of our time. The Smoove parts also fell flat, though it was important for him to be involved.

The idea also had an unintended, though arguably predictable, consequence: It ended up taking too much attention away from the winners. Some of them, like Seth Rogen, had plenty of opportunities to present their gratitudes. And others, like Jean Smart, have given thank-yous aplenty in recent years. But there were plenty of first-time winners who have never had the opportunity before and very well may never again. Those people should go (a hair) long, but several of them felt the pressure of the countdown clock and either rushed their speeches or possibly even cut them short. The bit took away from their moment — or at least it threatened to.

Let’s not pretend we all love lengthy acceptance speeches, though. This all remains a problem without a perfect solution.

Others, meanwhile, breezed right through the timer anyway. Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) was the first winner to say she’ll pick up the tab for her extra seconds; others followed. But not everyone in that room and on that stage has Hacks supporting-actress money.

One specific aspect Bargatze would probably like to have back is the declining-balance chyron that started at the 46-seconds mark — or at least, he’d probably reconsider after the first few appearances drew laughs and made the point. The ticker was visible both to viewers at home and to the winner on stage. Like much of this bit, it was funny at first, but became a distraction. Some critics have argued that the whole thing should have been scrapped at a certain point, but it was way too late and the show was way too live.

So as it is, out of the great Nate Bargatze, we got an excellent cold open and a funny concept, but too much personal finance humor. Still, CBS got an unforgettable Emmys and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America got a ton of money — no harm, no foul.

See THR’s full winners list and coverage from the 2025 Emmys.