Seacrest opened up about his hectic schedule, the hard-hitting red carpet questions he’ll be asking, pre-Emmys, and how his trusty joke book might finally be put to good use.
Do you think hosting the Emmys will give “American Idol” a better shot of winning?
I don’t know. I certainly hope so. It’s obviously fantastic to be nominated year after year, but after a few nominations, you actually want to have one you put on your mantle.
So what do you make of the fact that “Idol” is the most popular show on TV, but the Emmy people seem to ignore you?
We’re the most popular loser.
Can you fill us in a bit about what you have planned for the show?
We’re going to open the show with a music number. As you can well imagine, [it] will be unlike anything you’ve seen in years past.
You have about a million jobs, and I’m sure you’ve had just as many more offers—what’s the strangest thing people have asked you to host or take part in?
Actually, I’m asked probably on a daily basis to do a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah greeting to someone’s home video camera. I did about three of them already today.
What are your plans for the day of the event, to relax before hosting your first Emmys?
I am producing the “Live from the Red Carpet” show and hosting it, and then I’ll host the Primetime Emmys. I have a problem saying no, don’t I?
When do you sleep?
Generally, as soon as I eat something out of a Styrofoam container at the end of the night. I go to bed pretty early. When I’m in L.A. doing the radio show, I go to bed usually about 8:30 and get up in the 4s, which is not normal.
Seriously though!
I’ve actually gotten to the point where I’m crazy if there’s downtime. A typical day: I’m in the office by 5 a.m., at the E! building, we do KISS FM from the E! building…there’s a studio there. So during three-minute radio commercial breaks, I will tape “E! News” promos. At 9:58 a.m., when I sign off from KISS, I walk across the hall and start doing voiceovers for “E! News” that day. I then go to a meeting about the news, then into taping the news right around lunchtime, then over to the set of “Idol.” At 6 p.m., I take my makeup off, I’m home by 7, I decompress, watch television, catch up on entertainment news and go to sleep.
Wow. On a lighter note, how are you going to handle your red carpet duties this year?
How am I going to handle the tough question of “Who are you wearing?” Boy, let me see. [Laughs] They’re not long, draw-out conversations—and they’re certainly not very in-depth. Many times they’re lacking in substance because we’re talking about fashion and how many glasses of champagne you’ve had in the limousine on your way to the show. So I don’t think it’ll be that difficult.
And how many glasses of champagne will you have once you’re done with the show?
When I’m done, it’ll be a matter of magnum bottles, not glasses.
Any advice for Emmy winners on their speeches?
No, I don’t think it’s for me to give advice. I haven’t actually stood on that stage and accepted an Emmy, but I would imagine that you try and think about what you’re going to do and who you’re going to thank leading up to the moment. And then, once you get up there, you probably don’t even hear yourself speak. But as viewers, we all love to see candor, to see people who are in the moment and who are sometimes caught up in emotion.
So would a terrible speech complicate your job as host at all?
No, a bad speech would be fantastic…it would create a great moment to react to.
It’s usually a stand-up comedian who hosts this stuff, but you…
Are you insinuating that I’m not funny?
[Laughs] No—but you have to be getting some kind of help in that department, right?
There will be plenty of comedy, thank God. Lewis Black is going to be there…Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Ellen, they’ve all RSVP’d, so fortunately we know that there will be laughs within this three hours.
So you’re not going to try to be funny?
I’m going to try and make the show fun and I would love to be funny. I’m going to try my best to have a sense of humor about it, and I hope that the people that are watching will also have a sense of humor about it. Some are laughing just by reading the line “Ryan Seacrest hosts the Primetime Emmys.” That gets a laugh…so I don’t know how much I have to really go into the joke book that sits next to my bed.
