BIG SURPRISE PARTY
Emmys put comedy spotlight on prez
The Revolution was televised.
At least so it seemed as Hollywood struck back last night at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The live award ceremony played like a rebuke to former reality star-turned-president Donald Trump.
The stars of such critical darlings as “Saturday Night Live,” “Veep” and “Last Week with John Oliver” were all celebrated.
In perhaps the most stunning moment of any awards show this year, Trump’s former spokesman Sean Spicer barreled onstage on a mobile podium to reassure host Stephen Colbert.
“This will be the largest audience for an Emmys, period, both in person and around the world,” he said.
Everyone seemed to have a zinger.
Addressing Trump’s oftrepeated claim that the Emmys are rigged, Colbert said, “Unlike the presidency, the Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote.”
Alec Baldwin, winning best supporting actor for his role as Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” hoisted his trophy and said, “I suppose I should say, at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy.”
Donald Glover, accepting for lead actor in a comedy for “Atlanta,” thanked Trump “for making black people No. 1 on the most oppressed list. He’s the reason I’m probably up here.”
Picking up her sixth consecutive Emmy for lead actress in a comedy for “Veep” (and her eighth acting Emmy overall, tying her with Cloris Leachman), Julia LouisDreyfus teased the upcoming season by saying the writers had abandoned an impeachment story.
“We were worried that someone else might get to it first,” she joked.
Hulu cannot be ignored. The streaming service was a big winner last night. Its dystopian nightmare “The Handmaid’s Tale,” picked up trophies for best drama, directing, writing, lead actress Elisabeth Moss and supporting actress Ann Dowd, who might be the nicest person to win an Emmy ever.
“Big Little Lies,” the HBO drama about domestic abuse roiling a group of friends, won the limited series competition. Stars Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgard all were all singled out.
Lena Waithe made history by becoming the first African-American woman to win for comedy writing for “Master of None,” an award she shared with co-writer and star Aziz Ansari. Presenter Cicely Tyson struggled to read the teleprompter and blamed it on her nerves. Sterling K. Brown, accepting his lead actor in a drama series trophy for “This is Us,” refused to let the music play him off. Somewhere, Kidman, winner for lead actress in a limited series for “Big Little Lies,” is still giving her acceptance speech. Did she slip a producer a twenty?
With over 450 scripted series last year, a record, it might have been nice to have a little bit more conversation about good TV and a little less about someone who wasn’t even in the room.