Joel McHale to host this year’s ESPY Awards

By William Hughes | May 22, 2015 | 8:57pm

Aux Features TV

Community star Joel McHale has been tapped as the host of the 2015 ESPY Awards, ESPN’s annual celebration of the year’s best performances in doing runs and making kicks. McHale joins a long line of comedians and popular actors hosting the ceremony, a tacit acknowledgment by ESPN that none but the most dedicated connoisseurs of schadenfreude want to watch a stream of professional athletes squint uncomfortably while teleprompter-fed jokes flop listlessly from their mouths. Past hosts of the show include Norm Macdonald, Rob Riggle, and, of course, Drake, who hosted last year’s ceremony as part of America’s ongoing experiment in letting Drake do stuff, just because.

Unlike some previous hosts, McHale does actually have a few sports bona fides to his name: The Seattle-raised actor and comedian played tight end on the football team of the University of Washington, long known for the devastating snark and relentlessly effective quipping of its offensive line. It remains to be seen how he’ll do once he steps up to the plate and gets in the goalie box, though, or whether he’ll be able to go the distance and touchdown the curling stone before striking out on a long-string of ill-considered, half-baked sports metaphors. In any case, the ESPYs will air on ESPN on July 15.