Emmys host Nate Bargatze will not make the show political

Asked how political these Emmys will be, Nate told Entertainment Weekly: "Not at all.

"I know there's heartbreaking stuff that's been happening right now, but I want this night to be an escape and I think that's why I was brought on.

"I think a lot of people are watching, I know they watch my stand-up for that reason, so I just don't wanna break that trust I have in them, and just make the night be a fun night."

Nate explained that there have been no late script changes since the death of Kirk - a close ally of US President Donald Trump - as "we were never really gonna do anything (political) to begin with".

The comic said: "Everybody has to deal with that stress all day long. So I wanna be just that one escape where they can turn something on and hopefully relax and just have fun."

Bargatze has also promised the same kindly approach to the celebrities in attendance at the ceremony.

He said: "We're not trying to just go be mean to everybody. I want it to be a fun, silly night that everybody can have kind of an escape.

"Basically, I don't want to, when I see them afterwards, it to be weird. I want them to be fun and good-natured and them be good sports about it."

Nate revealed that he has sought the advice of experienced awards host Jimmy Kimmel, who spoke of the importance of being able to react to any unexpected events.

The comedian said of Kimmel: "He wrote down a lot of stuff for me. One of the big ones was to sit down... When you're off camera, go sit down. So that was good advice."

Bargatze added: "He is like, look, you gotta be ready for when something happens and you gotta be ready to go out there. If something weird happens, like as a host, you gotta go out there and address it.

"It's nice to hope nothing like that happens, but I'm very aware of if it does, get out there, handle it."