For the first time since its inception in 2011, the Critics Choice Awards have nominated a streaming show in their Best Talk Show category—and not just one streaming show, but two.
Hot Ones and John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in L.A. were among the six nominees announced in the category early Thursday. They will compete against The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and The Graham Norton Show at the 2025 CCAs.
With a (somewhat confounding) rule change eliminating Last Week Tonight from consideration in the category this year, the competition is wide open. The John Oliver-hosted HBO series had won Best Talk Show the last three-years running. In other words, there’s a fairly good chance that Hot Ones or (perhaps more likely) Everybody’s in L.A. could walk away with the top prize.
Mulaney’s pop-up Netflix talk show surprised prognosticators when it won Outstanding Achievement in Variety, Talk or Sketch earlier this year at the Television Critics Association Awards, leading to speculation that Everybody’s in L.A. and/or Hot Ones might be among the nominees for Outstanding Talk Show at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Both shows were submitted for consideration in the category for the first time, but were shut out by their more traditional terrestrial TV counterparts, with The Daily Show ultimately taking home the Emmy.
Last Week Tonight’s three-year winning streak aside, the Critics Choice Awards are arguably the least predictable of the major award shows with talk show categories. Part of that can be attributed to the apples and oranges nature of the category, which encompasses talk shows across daytime, late night, and (now) streaming.
Before Oliver’s three-year winning streak, no show had ever won Best Talk Show two years in a row, and nominees often vary wildly year-to-year. The only talk show to be consistently nominated over the last six years is The Kelly Clarkson Show, which has never won.
Time will tell if 2025 will finally see Clarkson break through, or if Hot Ones or Everybody’s in L.A. beats her to the punch. While The Daily Show has won three times (all during Jon Stewart’s original tenure in 2011, 2013 and 2015), Stephen Colbert and Graham Norton are 0 for 2 and 0 for 3, respectively.
The Critics Choice Awards will be cablecast on E! Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025.
