Anthony Anderson took the stage at the top of the Emmys on Monday night to open the much-delayed awards show on Fox with a musical number paying tribute to hit TV theme songs alongside his mother, Doris Bowman, Blink-182’s Travis Barker and actor Christina Applegate.
The opening segment took place in Anderson’s “living room” set, with the “Black-ish” star entering following a title card for “Mister Anderson’s Neighborhood.” Upon his entrance, Anderson got a round of cheers — and another set when he mentioned the Emmys were taking place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
“We’re going to commemorate the greatest shows of today by paying tribute to some of the iconic series that mean so much to us,” Anderson said.
Among the songs included in Anderson’s monologue montage were: “Good Times,” “The Facts of Life,” “Miami Vice” (that one Barker joined in on). Anderson played the tunes on his piano and was accompanied by a “small,” “diverse” and “inclusive” choir from Compton, featuring Black women and men — and one white man. The actor said, “Fun fact: Kevin Costner is from Compton. I wonder if he was a Crip or a Blood. Hm, who knows?” before doing a hand signal and crying out: “‘Yellowstone’!!”
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The comedian brought his mother, Bowman, into the opening bit when he called on her in the audience from the stage to say she would be tasked with cutting people’s acceptance speeches off when they ran too long. And then she cut off Anderson for making the joke go on too long. “Anthony! Shut up! Watch your mouth, I want to go to the afterparty,” Bowman warned.
Anderson wrapped his monologue by bringing Applegate out to a standing ovation, with the actor (who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021) joking, “You are totally shaming me with disability by standing up,” before handing out the night’s first award.
Anderson’s Emmys stint is airing just over a week after standup comedian Jo Koy’s already infamous monologue flopped at the Golden Globe awards, but Anderson made no reference to the Globes in his own speech.
Anderson, who has received 11 Emmy nominations, was announced as host of the 2023 Emmys a little over a month before the show was set to be taped live Jan. 15 at the Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater (formerly the Microsoft) at the L.A. Live complex. He’s the host of Fox’s new game show “We Are Family,” along with his mother, Doris Bowman, and recently competed on the network’s hit series “The Masked Singer” as the celebrity under the Rubber Ducky costume.
Prior to Anderson’s gig, Emmys producer Jesse Collins told Variety: “I don’t want to say Anthony Anderson could have been Usher had he went down another path, but you’re going to find out in our open how much Anthony loves to sing. How much theme songs from television shows shaped his childhood and helped raise him to be who he is today. That’s where we’re leaning to kick this thing off: big fun music and Anthony Anderson being the best version of himself to really set the party off.”
The 75th annual Primetime Emmys were delayed from the awards show’s traditional September slot as a result of last year’s writers and actors strikes. The nominations were announced on July 12, 2023, less than 48 hours before the actors work stoppage began, and the show was later pushed to Jan. 15, 2024.
HBO’s “Succession” leads tonight’s Emmy nominations with 27 nods, “The Last of Us” is in second with 24 noms and “The White Lotus” Season 2 (now a drama series, previously competing as a limited series) is in third with 23. Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” is the most-nominated comedy series with 21 nods.
See the Emmys winners list, updating live, here.
