Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, kicked off the show in front of an empty arena on Sunday night...though you wouldn't have noticed it at first while watching from home.
During Kimmel's monologue, he took the stage at the Staples Center in a tuxedo and started cracking jokes to laughter from famous audience members.
While Kimmel was real, the audience was clearly phony, inserted from past footage. It did trip up some viewers who thought there might have been an audience after all.
It was eventually revealed that the only audience in-person was cardboard cutouts of famous celebrities and Jason Bateman of “Ozark” pretending to be one.
"Hello and welcome to the Pand-Emmies!" Kimmel started the show. "It's great to finally see people again."
"Of course I’m here all alone, of course we don’t have an audience. This isn't a MAGA rally, it's the Emmys," Kimmel joked.
Kimmel then walked into a room where he was surrounded by dozens of nominees shown on video feeds from their homes, hotel rooms and other remote locations. “I feel like I'm in a Best Buy,” he joked.
Most of the nominees will join the show remotely from their homes.
