He began with a video montage that saw him hitching a ride to the Emmys with the cast of "Modern Family", sharing a "Carpool Karaoke" with James Corden, a limo carrying Julia Louis-Dreyfus with Jeb Bush as the driver and ultimately getting dropped off by Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen atop her hulking dragon.
Once Kimmel safely took the stage flanked by fiery digital screens, he worked through jabs at many of the year's major nominees.
Kimmel ribbed her, "So, are you rooting for OJ to win tonight?"
It was a virtual inevitability that the election would come up in the monologue, and Kimmel didn't fail to touch on Trump's rise.
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Kimmel placed the blame directly on "Celebrity Apprentice" creator Mark Burnett, who had enabled the candidate by affording him a sensationalist reality platform.
"He is sitting right there. Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore before we're living in one."
Kimmel, 48, observed that this year's set of Emmy nominees is the most diverse ever, adding that the only thing Hollywood loves more than diversity is congratulating themselves for diversity.
Later in the broadcast, he announced that "Dr Bill Cosby" was going to be walking onstage, and then followed it up, a few seconds later, with "Don't worry, he's not really here, I just wanted to see what you guys would do."
The perennial winner for her role as the Dowager Countess on "Downton Abbey" seldom shows up for the ceremony, and Kimmel threatened her with a total revocation of her awards if she fails to come personally collect them.