Mariska Hargitay Kicks Off the 78th Emmys With Jalen Brunson, Jean Smart and a Nicole Kidman Surprise

Mariska Hargitay opened the 78th Emmy Awards with a mix of television jokes, a few well-placed Law & Order: SVU references, and an unexpected assist from Nicole Kidman.

The actress, who recently directed an Emmy-winning documentary and made her Broadway debut, became the first woman in 15 years to host the Emmy Awards. Rather than trying to match the deliberately outrageous comedy styles of former hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, Hargitay kept her opening relatively brief and focused on familiar television territory.

The evening began with a pre-taped musical parody of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” reworked as “I Love TV Screens.” Hargitay appeared alongside Jalen Brunson, Jean Smart and others, lip-syncing to prerecorded lyrics that worked in references to several of the night’s nominees.

The song gave way to Hargitay’s live entrance, where she appeared on the Emmy stage in a striking silvery-white gown.

She immediately acknowledged the unusual distinction of becoming the first woman to host the ceremony in 15 years, while also lowering expectations with a joke about the women who came before her.

“I am so incredibly proud to be the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years,” Hargitay said. “For 15 straight years, Amy and Tina said no.”

Hargitay Brings SVU Humor to the Emmys

It didn’t take long for Hargitay to turn to the show that has defined much of her career.

With the Emmys celebrating their 78th year and NBC marking its 100th, she joked about her remarkably long-running relationship with the network.

“The Emmys are celebrating their 78th year, and NBC is celebrating its 100th year,” she said, “and I have been on Law and Order: SVU for all of them.”

She followed that with another SVU gag, telling the audience that it was reassuring to see so many familiar faces.

“And I’m just talking about how many of you I’ve arrested on SVU,” she added. “You guys have done some unspeakable things. I’m talking to you, Martin Short.”

Hargitay then turned her attention to Dick Wolf, the creator of Law & Order: SVU and the person she described as the genius behind the series.

“I couldn’t do any of this without thanking the genius behind SVU, the legendary Dick Wolf,” she said, noting that Wolf has created more than 40 shows, with 13 currently on the air.

She then delivered a deliberately crude punchline about Wolf’s name, saying that the jokes surrounding it were unfair because “Dick Wolf isn’t even his real name,” before claiming his real name was “Richard Penis.”

It was the sort of groan-inducing joke that allowed Hargitay to move on to a more heartfelt part of the evening.

A Sincere Moment Turns Into a Nicole Kidman Joke

Hargitay said she had been advised not to “go for sincerity,” but chose to ignore that advice.

“I am truly deeply moved,” she told the audience, expressing her gratitude for being surrounded by people who had devoted their lives to telling stories.

She reflected on how storytelling has long brought people together, comparing the communal experience of gathering around a fire in a cave with the modern experience of watching a screen.

“But no matter how we watch, and even though we’re worlds apart, we’re all still holding a bit of that communal light,” she said. “And at the end of the day, we come to TV for magic, to laugh, to cry, to care, because we need that, all of us.”

She continued with an increasingly familiar description of the emotional experience of watching a movie as the lights go down and images appear on the screen.

There was just one problem: anyone who has been to an AMC theater in recent years had heard it before.

Hargitay had essentially launched into Nicole Kidman’s well-known AMC theater advertisement, in which Kidman delivers a poetic pitch about the communal magic of going to the movies.

Kidman happened to be sitting in the Emmy audience. She quickly made it known that she recognized the speech, loudly calling out the resemblance.

The moment brought Hargitay’s earnest detour to an appropriately quick and comedic conclusion.

After the opening, Hargitay continued with the night’s ceremony as the 78th Emmy Awards got underway, having established a hosting style that mixed Law & Order: SVU references, television-industry jokes and just enough sincerity to make room for one of the evening’s most unexpected cameos: Nicole Kidman reacting to her own AMC commercial.