Last night’s Emmys disappointed anyone hoping that the winners of an award show would be drawn from the cutting edge: The Queen’s Gambit triumphed over I May Destroy You, Ted Lasso and The Crown dominated, and The Underground Railroad and Bo Burnham came away empty-handed. Still, there were some highlights: Here are the moments that actually made us sit up and pay attention, whether good and bad.
The Opening Tributes
Cedric kicked the show off proper with an adaptation of the late Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend,” as Lil Dicky, LL Cool J, Rita Wilson (did Chet help her with her flow?), and a slew of others honored the late MC as they rapped about the power of television. .
Later, Kerry Washington took time to honor Michael K Williams, who had a hilarious cameo opposite Washington and Chris Rock in I Think I Love My Wife, before presenting the best supporting actor in a drama series award. Williams, who was nominated for his role as Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country, didn’t win, but “your excellence, your artistry will endure,” Washington said of the late actor. (Alas, the trophy went to Tobias Menzies for The Crown.)
And then we have Norm Macdonald, who passed away most recently after a battle with cancer. John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, and even Lorne Michaels (who was at least indirectly responsible for booting Norm off SNL) paid tribute to the Canadian funnyman, with Michaels saying Norm was “one of the funniest people I’ve ever known.” No word on if any of the three own a doghouse, however.
A (Premier) League of Their Own
Hannah Waddingham won the night’s first award for Supporting Actress for her role as team owner Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso, kickstarting a run of inevitable Ted Lasso domination. All together, the AppleTV+ series took home four major wins, sometimes besting itself*—* Brett Goldstein beat out three of his Ted Lasso co-stars for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Of course, Jason Sudeikis won for Lead Actor, not long before the series took home the Outstanding Comedy award. People really like Ted Lasso! And, as pretty much anyone with half a knack for this could have guessed, the Emmys were more than game to honor its popularity.
Hacks stole some comedy thunder.
Ted Lasso dominating the comedy categories was a given (less predictably, given that it had never won before, The Crown did the same to drama) but boy was it great to see HBO Max’s delightful new half-hour dramedy, easily one of the best shows of the year, sneak in and muscle away three awards. The headline, of course, was triple OG Jean Smart rightfully getting an ovation as the titanic but tortured comedienne who drives the series. But it was just as vindicating seeing creators Lucia Aniello, Paul Downs and Jen Statsky pick up the writing award and even moreso seeing Aniello win for directing, a category that could definitely honor women more often.
LVP (Least Valuable Person): The Wrap-Up Guy
The wrap-up music cues were especially brutal this time, and whoever was in charge of it took his job quite seriously, infringing on some real legends and/or momentous speeches all for the sake of broadcast brevity. He had the temerity to cut off 80s icon Debbie Allen. He also started to cut off Jean Smart, whose win the entire room had rightfully just erupted for, after she began her acceptance speech by dedicating her late husband. If time is that important, how about cutting some of these dumb sketches, guys? Speaking of…
Scott Frank, read the room
In true entitled white man fashion, The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank would not be cowed by the wrap-it-up cue as he accepted the award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series. “Seriously, stop the music” Frank barked when the orchestra started up, with all of the grouchy sass of a Best Buy customer demanding to speak to “the manager.” He then proceeded to drone on for an eternity (three minutes) with a speech that, much like Queen’s Gambit, really didn’t need to be that long.
Michaela Coel didn’t walk away totally empty-handed
I May Destroy You deserved so much more—the HBO series was up for every major Limited Series award but lost most of them to The Queen’s Gambit— but at least Michaela Coel won for Outstanding Writing. The moment created one of those sweet instances every awards broadcast needs, where a nominee is deserving, but also the underdog, and thus genuinely surprised to get the win. (Coel’s seatmate Cynthia Erivo seemingly had to hype Coel up to get up on the stage.) And in stark contrast to Scott, Coel delivered a touching and poignant speech in under a minute.
The Support Sketch
One of the highlights of the night involved people who…didn’t win any awards. Spearheaded by Dr. Phil, the Emmys Support Group sketch was a real winner. Scott Bakula, Cedric the Entertainer, Keri Russell and others spent a rap session discussing the lows of being nominated but never winning. It was refreshing, and hilarious, to see an awards show take this angle. You always see the winners, radiant, glowing as they accept their awards. What about the people who aren’t so lucky?
Conan the Disruptor
Conan deliberately trolling Frank Scherma, CEO and Chairman of the Television Academy, by giving him an especially raucous reception as he took the stage, was a brief but noteworthy shot of excitement during a speech that’s usually among the most boring. Inviting the guy who wrote the Monorail episode of The Simpsons to your live show is always a risky bet, and Conan proved he’s still his regular manic self even though he isn’t on late-night anymore. He saluted the guy, for crying out loud. (And later joined Stephen Colbert’s team onstage as they accepted their win, for no reason other than to do it.)