Colbert brings humour to TV’s big night
Spicer, Baldwin, Colbert tease Trump at a particularly topical Emmy Awards
Stephen Colbert opened the Emmy Awards with help from a surprise guest: former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, wheeling out his own podium and predicting that Sunday’s ceremony would break viewership records.
“This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world,” Spicer shouted Sunday with authority, echoing his claim that U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was the biggest ever and evoking Melissa McCarthy’s manic Spicer portrayal on Saturday Night Live.
Colbert’s song-and-dance opening and monologue celebrated TV and repeatedly tweaked Trump, including the president’s assertion that he should have won an Emmy for Celebrity Apprentice.
His subsequent presidency was the fault of TV voters, Colbert said. He also called the president “the biggest TV star of the past year.”
John Lithgow, who received the best supporting drama actor for his role as British leader Winston Churchill in The Crown, took a more diplomatic approach to political commentary.
“Most of all I have to thank Winston Churchill. In these crazy times, his life, even as an old man, reminds us what courage and leadership in government really looks like,” Lithgow said.
Kate McKinnon, who played Hillary Clinton last season on Saturday Night Live, was honoured as best comedy series supporting actress. She thanked Clinton for her “grace.”
SNL, riding a wave of attention and ratings with its skewering of Trump and his administration, was honoured as best variety sketch series. McCarthy was honoured at last weekend’s creative arts Emmys as best guest actress for her SNL work.
Alec Baldwin won for impersonating Trump and told the president, “Here’s your Emmy.”
“I remember the first time we won this award,” creator Lorne Michaels said in accepting the show’s trophy.
“It was after the first season in 1976. I remember thinking … this was the high point,” and there would never be “another season as crazy, as unpredictable, as frightening, as exhausting or as exhilarating. “Turns out I was wrong.” Montreal-born filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée was among the other early Emmy winners.
He picked up the prize for directing for a limited series, movie or dramatic special for the hit HBO dramedy, Big Little Lies.
Laura Dern won the Emmy for supporting actress in a limited series or movie for the same series. Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe won the prize for outstanding writing in a comedy series for Master of None.
The Voice won for reality competition series, and Bruce Miller won a writing prize for his work on the Ontario-shot dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale — based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name.
The show kicked off with Colbert — with help from Chance the Rapper — singing the song Everything is Better on TV, which repeatedly slammed Trump (“Even treason is better on TV.”).
The honours themselves made a statement. In the drama category, the nominees included polar opposites This Is Us, a heartfelt family drama, and The Handmaid’s Tale, which some observers have called a reflection of our time.
A victory by NBC’s This Is Us, the first network drama series to be nominated since CBS’ The Good Wife in 2011, would prove that broadcasters can compete with the more adventurous premium cable and streaming platforms that target niche audiences.
No network series has won in the category since 24 in 2006.
With previous two-time winner Game of Thrones absent because it fell outside the eligibility window, This Is Us and The Handmaid’s Tale were among an unprecedented number of newcomers that included The Crown, Stranger Things and Westworld. Repeat contenders Better Call Saul and House of Cards rounded out the field.
Among comedy nominees, the political satire Veep was favoured again after two consecutive wins, and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus was considered equally if not more likely to claim the best comedy actress trophy for the sixth time for her role.
Combined with Emmys she’s won for Seinfeld and New Adventures of Old Christine, that would tie her with Cloris Leachman as the most-winning Emmy performer ever.
Veep was competing with Atlanta; black-ish; Master of None; Silicon Valley; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Modern Family, which, with five previous wins in the category, is tied with Frasier for most top-series awards ever.
Complete results were unavailable at press time.