Hosting an awards show can be a thankless job, and with Monday’s Primetime Emmy Awards fast approaching, first-time host Seth Meyers has got to be feeling the pressure.
Hit it out of the park, and you get a repeat invitation back — but should the ratings sag, the host is the first to blame.
With that in mind, here are five hosting dos and don’ts based on recent Emmy telecast highs and lows — you can thank us later, Seth.
Do: Go musical
Choreographed musical numbers almost always go over well and keep the energy high (we’re still smiling over Jimmy Fallon’s infectious “Born to Run” opener from 2010). Unlike his NBC colleague, Meyers is self-professedly not a showman — but that shouldn’t stop him from tapping some of his more musically inclined TV peers.
If we get through Monday night without a “Sound of Music” parody, Meyers hasn’t done his job.
Don’t: Force the singing
Clever musicality is good, but forced musical interludes tend to fall flat, as 2011’s Emmytones — a Greek chorus-like group of singing TV stars — proved. A smart graphics package could have done the same introductions with way less cringing.
Do: Call in Tina and Amy
Comedy BFFs Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have established themselves as the queens of awards-show hosting thanks to their two-time stint at the Golden Globes (they’ll be back again in 2015) and hilarious bit at last year’s Emmys heckling host Neil Patrick Harris to twerk.
Lucky for Meyers, he has a history with the ladies from “Saturday Night Live,” and because he wrote jokes for them for the Globes, he told Vulture he plans to call on the ladies to return the favor for the Emmys.
Don’t: Go too sad
Let’s avoid a repeat of last year — what “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan famously summed up as the “saddest Emmys of all time.” In 2013, producers included no fewer than six stand-alone tributes to deceased stars, casting a gloomy shadow on the whole evening.
The In Memoriam reel is a fine tradition, so let’s hope Billy Crystal tries to keep audiences smiling in his tribute to Robin Williams — just like the late comic did.
Do: Call in the stars
Nobody does the cameo-filled skit better than Jimmy Kimmel, who did one for his cold open in 2012 featuring a naked, cake-eating Lena Dunham, a gaggle of best-actress nominees and plenty of TV inside-jokes.
This one should be easy for Meyers — with his “SNL” history, he’s got a Rolodex of celebs to call on to come play (we’re looking at you, Jon Hamm).