Creative Arts Emmys Awards: Night Two – “SNL,’ ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ lead Variety programming winners

Erik Anderson September 15, 2020

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Host: Eddie Murphy” (Will Heath/NBC)

NBC’s Saturday Night Live and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver triumphed at night two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, with three wins apiece in the Variety programming sections.

Saturday Night Live won for its directing, production design and the big one, Variety Sketch Series. This marks the fourth win in a row for the series in its 45th year. It has now won this award four of the six years since its inception.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took home the writing, picture editing and technical direction awards. RuPaul’s Drag Race grabbed two wins (Makeup and Hairstyling) and Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times” won the big prize of Variety Special (Live) and also for its technical direction.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver‘s win for Variety Series Writing is the show’s 5th win in a row of six nominations. It lost its first year, which was the last year of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (where Oliver originated), which is the leader here with nine wins. This win passes The Colbert Report, Dennis Miller Live, Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live and ties with The Carol Burnett Show.

Outstanding Variety Special (Live): Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times” is Kerry Washington’s first Emmy win in eight nominations…four of which are for this year alone.

The night was once again hosted by Nicole Byer (Nailed It!), who opted for the same dress as night one, and was joined by the likes of Thomas Lennon (who had previously been the voice-over and narrator for The Emmys), Emmy nominee Jeremy Pope (Hollywood), Ozark’s Sofia Hublitz, Chris Hardwick (The Wall; The Talking Dead) and Desus Nice & The Kid Mero (Desus & Mero).

Creative Arts Emmy Awards: Night One – ‘Apollo 11’ leads Reality and Non-Fiction winners

The rest of the week will encompass the rest of the over 100 categories for the Creative Arts Emmys with Scripted programming on Wednesday and Thursday, all beginning at 5pm PT live on Emmys.com. The rest of the winners (including Reality or Competition Host and the Guest Acting categories) will be revealed Saturday on FXX in a show that begins at 8pm ET/5pm PT. All five nights will be produced by Bob Bain Productions.

Presenters for the five nights include Monica Aldama (Cheer), Jeff Bridges (The Old Man), Rose Byrne (Mrs. America), Bobby Cannavale (Homecoming), Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black), Desus Nice & The Kid Mero (Desus & Mero), Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian; Better Call Saul), Brandee Evans (P-Valley), Chris Hardwick (The Wall; The Talking Dead), Jerry Harris (Cheer), Thomas Lennon (Reno 911), Daryl Mitchell (NCIS: New Orleans), Hilarie Burton Morgan (Friday Night In With The Morgans), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Friday Night In With The Morgans; The Walking Dead), Erin Moriarty (The Boys), Lamorne Morris (Woke), Leslie Odom Jr. (Central Park), Jeremy Pope (Hollywood), Issa Rae (A Black Lady Sketch Show; Insecure), Monica Raymund (Hightown), Drew Scott (Property Brothers) and Wanda Sykes (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).

Here is the full list of winners from Night Two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Short Form Variety Series: Carpool Karaoke: The Series

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series: Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Variety Special (Live): Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times”

Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Program: RuPaul’s Drag Race (“I’m That Bitch”)

Outstanding Contemporary Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic): RuPaul’s Drag Race (“I’m That Bitch”)

Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Program: The Masked Singer (“The Season Kick-Off Mask-Off: Group A”)

Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series: Saturday Night Live (“Host: Eddie Murphy”)

Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special: Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Starring Jennifer Lopez And Shakira

Outstanding Music Direction: The Kennedy Center Honors

Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (“Eat Sh!t, Bob!”)

Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series: Saturday Night Live (“Host: Eddie Murphy, Host: John Mulaney”)

Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special: The Oscars

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special: The Oscars

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (“Episode 629”)

Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Special: Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: “All In The Family” And “Good Times”

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

2020 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Winners Tally (Night One and Night Two)

RuPaul’s Drag Race – IIII

Apollo 11 – III
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – III
Saturday Night Live – III

Cheer – II
Live in Front of a Studio Audience – II
The Oscars – II

The Apollo – I
Carpool Karaoke: The Series – I
The Cave – I
Don’t F*** With Cats – I
The Kennedy Center Honors – I
Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath – I
Life Below Zero – I
The Masked Singer – I
National Geographic Presents – Cosmos: Creating Possible Worlds – I
Queer Eye – I
Seven Worlds, One Planet – I
Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira – I
Why We Hate – I

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.