With a record 22 nominations, this is, by all accounts, Saturday Night Live’s year at the Emmy Awards. But not if Billy Eichner has anything to say about it.
The host of Billy on the Street, which received its first Emmy nomination in the same Variety Sketch Series category as SNL, appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night, where he delivered a hilarious tirade against the presumptive frontrunner.
After a successful “For Your Consideration” campaign—including billboards that read, “You nominated Donald Trump for an Emmy but you won’t nominate Billy on the Street?”—Eichner told Meyers, “From the second I got nominated, everyone’s been saying to me, ‘Well, you know you’re going to lose to Saturday Night Live.’”
ADVERTISEMENT
As an awards show aficionado, Eichner knows that is “probably true,” but at the same time, he asked, “What is another award going to do for Saturday Night Live?” While Lorne Michaels has “millions of dollars, countless awards and a lifelong friendship with Paul Simon,” Eichner said, “You know what I have? Student loans!”
He compared a win for SNL to giving an award to pizza. “I get it, it’s an institution, it’s a staple,” he said. “That’s like saying, ‘And the Emmy goes to a piece of pizza.’ We all know pizza’s great, it’s been around forever, I don’t think it needs to be congratulated, Seth.”
People have argued that SNL deserves to win because it features the great Kate McKinnon, who won the Best Supporting Actress award last year and is nominated again for playing Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway and Jeff Sessions this past season. “Well, can you imagine how hard it is not to have her?” Eichner asked. “I’m at a severe disadvantage.”
Eichner didn’t just stop at going after SNL, he also extended his “smear campaign” to another of his competitors, Tracey Ullman, who is nominated for her latest HBO sketch series. “People don’t know this, Tracey Ullman was in ISIS,” he said, starting a chant of “Lock her up! Lock her up!”
The perfect kicker came when Meyers pointed out that Documentary Now!, a show he produces, is also nominated in the same category as Billy on the Street. “Yeah, but that’s not gonna win,” Eichner replied.
