Last night was the Emmy Awards, a three-hour-long ceremony the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences holds each year to honor Modern Family. The cast and crew of other TV comedies are invited to attend too, but they know going in that they will probably lose to Modern Family and that they were only nominated because there aren’t enough people working on Modern Family to fill every category.
Modern Family won a whopping four Emmys, significantly more than any other comedy at last night’s awards. Included in Modern Family’s bounty is the prize for Outstanding Comedy Series, which the sitcom has taken home for three years in a row now.
The Emmys typically offer very few surprises, but last night brought a couple of unpredictable wins for Louis C.K. in the categories of Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for FX’s Louie) and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Special (for his independently-released special Live at the Beacon Theater). These are two well-deserved wins that prove Emmy voters aren’t quite as out-of-touch as they seem, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences opted to retroactively give both Louie’s Emmys to Modern Family this morning when they wake up and realize the terrible mistake they’ve made.
Here’s a complete list of comedy-related winners:
Outstanding Comedy Series: Modern Family (ABC)
Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men (CBS)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Louis C.K. (for the episode “Pregnant”), Louie (FX)
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special: Louis C.K., Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre (Online/FX)
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Steven Levitan (for the episode “Baby on Board”) Modern Family (ABC)
And here are the five minutes worth watching from the three-hour ceremony:
Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert try to stop Jon Stewart from reaching the stage to give his speech. Stewart’s speech (uncensored here) made headlines for his controversial use of the dreaded curse word known as “the f-bomb.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus accidentally reads Amy Poehler’s accepatance speech.
Host Jimmy Kimmel plays a prank on people not watching the Emmys by having Tracy Morgan pretend to pass out on stage and encouraging the audience to tweet “OMG Tracy Morgan just passed out at the Emmys. Turn ABC on now.” The phrase “OMG Tracy Morgan” began trending worldwide soon after and sparked tens-of-thousands of tweets.
One of Louis C.K.’s two acceptance speeches.
