For anyone looking to inject a little chaos into an awards show, John Mulaney is the person to call.
The busy stand-up star and former Saturday Night Live writer brought his Studio 8H instincts to the 2026 Emmy Awards, delivering a brisk, razor-sharp routine that could easily have slotted into Weekend Update.
Mulaney took the stage to present Best Lead Actor in a Drama, which ultimately went to The Pitt star Noah Wyle. Before revealing the winner, he framed the category as an award “for the guys” — “just men being men” — and teased the nominees for being tougher than “the dad on Bluey.”
Bandit Heeler did not deserve that kind of Emmy night collateral damage. Still, the beloved animated dad was far from Mulaney’s only target.
Toward the end of his monologue, Mulaney brought up DJ Khaled in a joke that was censored during the broadcast. Even without hearing every word, viewers did not need much lip-reading expertise to understand where the punchline was headed.
“I believe it was DJ Khaled that said, ‘Real men don’t go down on their wives,’” Mulaney said, drawing a huge laugh from the room. “But, but… these nominees know that is BS. They KNOW there’s often less pressure on them if they do that first.”
The Emmy Awards are now airing on NBC and Peacock.
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