Trump jokes were aplenty in both the cold open and Colbert's opening monologue. The late-night comedian referenced Trump's alleged TV obsession and the finding that Trump apparently watches an average of five hours of television every night, according to The Washington Post.

"Well, what a year it has been for television. I mean, the industry is booming," Colbert said. "There were over 450 original scripted shows made this year. Of course, there is no way anyone could possibly watch that much TV, other than the president, who seems to have a lot of time for that sort of thing. Hello, sir, thank you for joining us. Looking forward to the tweet."

Colbert also made light of the fact that Trump has never won an Emmy Award.

"We all know the Emmys mean a lot to Donald Trump. Because he was nominated multiple times for Celebrity Apprentice, but he never won," Colbert said. "Why didn't you give him an Emmy? I tell you this, if he had won an Emmy, I bet he wouldn't have run for president. So in a way this is all your fault."

Colbert compared Trump to Breaking Bad's anti-hero Walter White, a chemist-turned-drug kingpin played by Bryan Cranston.

"I thought you people loved morally compromised antiheroes," Colbert said. "You like Walter White. He’s just Walter Much Whiter."

“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row, and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged again. But he didn’t. Because unlike the presidency, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote," Colbert said.

In the most surprising cameo of the night, former Press Secretary Sean Spicer rolled out onto the stage on a podium and parodied Melissa McCarthy's Saturday Night Live impression of him. Spicer also joked about Trump's apparent obsession with crowd sizes.

“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period, both in person and around the world," Spicer said.

When Alec Baldwin accepted his Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a comedy for his portrayal of Trump in the most recent season of SNL, Baldwin made several digs at the president. Baldwin began his speech by saying, “I suppose I should say, at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy.”

Baldwin then continued: “I want to thank my wife. My wife and I had three children in three years, and we didn’t have a child last year during the S.N.L. season. I wonder if there is a correlation there. All you men up there, you put that orange wig on, it’s birth control, trust me.”

Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin presented together, forming a reunion of their 1980 film Nine-To-Five. The three actresses played working women who try to overthrow their company's tyrannical boss, played by Dabney Coleman.

“Back in 1980, in that movie, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot,” Fonda said.

Tomlin then added: “And in 2017, we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.”

While presenting the award for outstanding reality competition, Lea Michelle said that the programs "celebrate culinary wizards, fantastic designers, beautiful people who rock the runway, and incredible talents with amazing voices.”

Silicon Valley and The Big Sick star Kumail Nanjiani then quipped: “They also celebrate people who frantically race across international borders and those who can scale walls really, really quickly. In other words, the president’s worst nightmare.”

In a sketch referencing the HBO show Westworld, Colbert started "malfunctioning" onstage and was dragged off to one of Westworld's diagnostic facilities. Westworld centers on a futuristic Wild West-themed amusement park run by android hosts. One of the show's main actors, Jeffrey Wright, checked on the glitches, asking Colbert, "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?”

Colbert: “Every day since November 8."

Donald Glover, who won best lead actor in a comedy for Atlanta (and also made history as the first black person to win an Emmy for outstanding directing in a comedy series for his work directing an episode of Atlanta called "B.A.N.") thanked the president in his acceptance speech.

“I want to thank Trump for making black people number one on the most oppressed list,” he said. “He’s the reason I’m probably up here.”

When Julia Louis-Dreyfus won best actress in a comedy for Veep, she teased that the writers were still deciding on the plot for the show's final season.

“We did have a whole story line about an impeachment, but we abandoned it because we were worried that someone else might get to it first,” she said.

David Mandel, the showrunner of Veep, also made a jab at Trump while accepting the award for best comedy. He listed shows that have inspired him, saying: “‘Atlanta, black-ish, Master of None, the Trump White House, Modern Family, Kimmy Schmidt, Silicon Valley.’”

When Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany introduced the lead actress in a drama category, she hinted that Claire Underwood, the politician in House of Cards played by Robin Wright, would be a great president.

“She’d be great,” Maslany said. “She doesn’t tweet.”

Following the trend at other award shows this year, Hollywood's elite certainly didn't shy away from addressing the political climate at the 2017 Emmys.