Hey Emmy, Dropout has been here forever.
Dropout, the indie streamer formerly known as CollegeHumor, has revealed its official submission for the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards exclusively to Variety. The platform will propose two flagship series for consideration by the Television Academy: the popular comedy panel game show “Game Changers” and the improv talk series “Very Important People.” Combined, these shows will compete in 11 Emmy categories.
“Very Important People” features comedians who, after undergoing extensive make-up and costume transformations, must create original characters based on first impressions as they interview a fictional character to host Vic Michaelis. The series is currently in its third season, and most recently featured Lacey Mosley, host of the Goddess of Deception podcast, as Paloma, a dry-eyed dog with the energy of a Chihuahua. Due to the recent merger of former talk series and scripted variety series, it will be submitted in the Outstanding Variety Series category.
As the number of eligible late-night talk shows and sketch series continues to dwindle, the organization’s board of directors voted to merge the two categories into one. A similar attempt in December 2020 was met with backlash, with the Academy withdrawing from the project after backlash from celebrities in the variety world.
However, the Academy also designates the Outstanding Variety Series category as a “discipline” award. In the regional category, candidates do not compete against each other. Instead, each entry must receive at least 90% approval from Emmy voters who answer whether it is worthy of an Emmy. The candidate who meets those criteria “wins.” If none of the entries meet the criteria, the Emmy Award will be awarded to the highest winning entry. This differs from standard category awards, which require a minimum of 70% approval after review if there are fewer than seven entries.
Last year’s scripted variety nominees were “Saturday Night Live” and winner “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Nominated talk series include “The Daily Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” And the winner is “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
After a season marked by highlights that included guests such as “SNL” Freshman Rising Star Jeremy Culhane, comedian and “This Fool” star Frankie Quiñones and Angela Giarratana, known for her standout work with the YouTube sketch comedy collective “Smosh,” the move to “Area” awards could boost “VIP”‘s chances of winning.
Kate Elliott/Dropout
Kate Elliott/Dropout
In particular, actor and writer Vic Michaelis (they/them) was nominated for the Best Comedy Actress category for the first time in “Dropout” for her hilarious performance on the show. Other variety shows have also entered acting competitions for their performers over the years, including “SNL,” where performers and guests have earned multiple nominations and awards. Michaelis will be on the Emmy ballot for other acting work from the past year, including supporting comedy actress on Peacock’s British spy series “The Ponies,” along with Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, and could also compete for guest drama actress on ABC’s police drama “The Rookie,” starring Nathan Fillion.
“VIP” will also compete in several creative arts categories, including direction (Tamar Levine), costumes (Alisha Silverstein and Holly Pilate-Scharnweber), makeup (Alex Perrone) and photo editing (Eve Hintz). Episode posts will be announced at a later date.
The streamer’s most-watched show, “Game Changers,” puts the series in contention for a spot in the outstanding game show category. The host of the show, Dropout CEO Sam Reich, is likely to be one of the candidates to host the game show. The series will also compete for love in production design (Chloe Badner), casting (Jazzie Collins), and visual editing (Sam Geer). Last year, the show was ineligible because only four episodes aired during the eligibility period, which ended on May 31st. As a result, the final seven episodes of season 7 will be considered by Television Academy voters.
This next run begins with the episode “The Drinking Game.” In this episode, players worked together to complete a challenge, while one of the participants secretly remained “sober” and sabotaged the group’s chance to win $25,000. The season ends with “Samara Ding Dong.” There, Reich himself becomes a surprise contestant, believing himself to be sitting in an interview with Variety, but ends up being drawn into the match by fan favorite Brennan Lee Mulligan.
“Game Changer” is also scheduled to debut Season 8 during this year’s eligibility period, with an announcement to be made soon.
The Emmy Awards timeline begins with nomination round voting from June 11th to 22nd, with nominations announced on July 8th.
