'Virtual' Emmys open with cardboard cutouts, remote video calls

Nominees for the 72nd Emmys are beaming in remotely from their homes for the "virtual" show. PHOTO: AFP
Jimmy Kimmel sitting among celebrities carbord cutouts during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
Nominees for the 72nd Emmys are beaming in remotely from their homes for the "virtual" show. PHOTO: AFP
Canadian actor Eugene Levy speaks after receiving his Emmy while his son Daniel Levy watches during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
D-Nice performing on stage during the 72nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, US, on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
US actor Anthony Anderson at the Staples Center during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
Actors Anthony Anderson (left) and Sterling K. Brown at the Staples Center during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
Jimmy Kimmel in front of a screen showing nominee Jennifer Aniston watching remotely with her friends Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox at the Staples Center during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held virtually on Sept 20, 2020. PHOTO: AFP

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the Emmys on Sunday (Sept 20) from an empty Los Angeles theatre filled with cardboard cutouts of the nominees, marking the start of Hollywood's first major Covid-era award show.

"Hello and welcome to the pand-Emmys," said Kimmel, as producers cut to archive footage of a star-studded audience, before revealing the venue's empty seats.

Nominees for the 72nd Emmys - television's version of the Oscars - are beaming in remotely from their homes, with only a handful of special guest presenters appearing in person including Jennifer Aniston.

After last year's hostless Emmys, Kimmel joked: "You can't have a virus without a host."

The first prize of the night, best actress in a comedy series, went to Catherine O'Hara for Schitt's Creek, who was handed her award by a presenter in a hazmat suit at a socially distanced event for the show's cast in Toronto.

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