Schitt’s Creek has clean sweep for comedy at Emmy Awards
Schitt’s Creek, the little Canadian show about a fish-out-of-water family, made history at yesterday’s Emmy Awards with a comedy awards sweep, something even TV greats including Frasier and Modern Family failed to achieve.
The Pop TV show’s awards included best comedy series and awards for its stars, including Catherine O’Hara, and father-son Eugene and Daniel Levy.
‘‘Our show at its core is about the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and this is something we need more now than ever before,’’ said co-creator and star Daniel Levy, who encouraged people to register and vote to achieve that goal.
O’Hara accepted the award virtually in the pandemic-safe ceremony. ‘‘Though these are the strangest of days, may you have as much joy being holed up in a room or two with your family as I had with my dear Roses,’’ O’Hara said, surrounded in a decorated room by mask-wearing co-stars who play the Rose family members.
Levy called it ‘‘ironical that the straightest role I ever played lands me an Emmy for a comedy performance. I have to seriously question what I’ve been doing’’ for the past 50 years.
Moments later, Levy’s son Daniel won the award for comedy writing for an episode of Schitt’s Creek, then shared a directing award and captured the supporting actor comedy trophy. The supporting actress trophy went to his co-star Annie Murphy.
Daniel Levy thanked his father and O’Hara for teaching an extended ‘‘master class’’ in comedy. The show’s sweep came for its much-acclaimed final season.
There was a sign of change with the drama awards, which came in the latter part of the ceremony.
The powerful series Watchmen, a graphic novel-adaptation steeped in racial pain, was voted best limited series and star Regina King won lead actress for her work on the HBO show. She was showered by confetti as she accepted in an armchair, wearing a T-shirt that honoured police shooting victim Breonna Taylor. ‘‘This is so freaky and weird,’’ said King, who regained her composure and called on viewers to vote.
Her co-star, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series. Uzo Aduba won the counterpart actress award for her portrayal of Shirley Chisholm in Mrs America.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was again honoured as best variety-talk series, with David Letterman announcing the award after being abandoned roadside by an annoyed rideshare driver.
Euphoria star Zendaya could become the youngest winner in the drama actress category at age
24 (topping Jodie Comer, who was
26 when she won last year for Killing Eve).
The creative Emmys that were handed over five days, culminating on Sunday, underscore the point: awards have been collected by 29 outlets representing cable channels, streaming services and broadcast networks. So far, longtime leader HBO and rising Netflix are tied with 19 awards each, followed by Disney+ and NBC with eight honours apiece.
The Mandalorian, home of the character dubbed ‘‘baby Yoda’’ by fans, earned the bulk of the Disney service’s honours, seven to date. Watchmen has a matching number, with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel led among comedies with four awards going into yesterday’s ceremony.