Emmy Newbies Rule as Winners Mostly Stay Away From Politics

A slew of veteran television personalities picked up their first Emmys Sunday night at a TV extravaganza keen on celebrating the toil of producing television and reluctant to embrace the urgencies of advocacy.

A long list of veteran performers that included Seth Rogen, Britt Lower, Cristin Milioti, Noah Wyle, Hannah Einbinder, Katherine LaNasa and Jeff Hiller all won the first Emmys of their careers, as late bloomers dominated the winners of the 77th annual awards show, which saw Rogen’s The Studio and Wyle’s The Pitt win top honors.

Apart from Einbinder, though, none of them took the moment to speak out on political issues, providing a sharp contrast not only to past Emmys telecasts but to the news roiling other parts of the TV dial. The omission was especially striking given how many of the nominated shows engage with political themes.

Rogen took the first Emmy of his two-decade career, winning the lead actor in a comedy prize at the start of the night for his role as purist studio chief Matt Remick in his Apple TV+ show The Studio, which he co-created. The hyphenate had previously been nominated nine times. He and The Studio later would win for best comedy.

“I so could not wrap my head around this happening… I’ve never won anything in my life,” Rogen said accepting the acting honor. Before this year, Rogen’s last notable prize came for “Best Gut-Wrenching Performance” at the MTV Movie Awards a decade ago. Rogen would later win along with co-creator Evan Goldberg for comedy directing as The Studio built momentum before taking the big award. “I’m legitimately embarrassed by how happy this makes me,” Rogen said upon winning best comedy.

In a big-time late-bloomer moment, Wyle would win his first Emmy at 54, scoring the Emmy for best actor in a drama for his role as sympathetic-but-embattled doctor Dr. Robby on HBO’s The Pitt, as the real-time medical show went on to win best drama, toppling favorite Severance. It was Wyle’s first nomination since he landed his last supporting actor nod for ER 26 years ago.

“What a dream this is,” the actor said. “To anyone going on shift or coming off shift tonight, thank you for being in that job. This is for you.”

Another Emmys newcomer got her bouquet as Lower won lead actress in a drama for her enigmatic role on Severance. The 40-year-old bested the ultimate veteran in Matlock’s Kathy Bates, a two-time winner and the oldest-ever nominee in the category. Lower gave an earnest speech thanking fans, teachers and family members, ending with a fittingly gnomic “Thank you to Helly R. for choosing me,” referring to her character on the Apple TV+ drama.

Milioti, who came to TV prominence more than a decade ago with her late-series run on How I Met Your Mother, won her first-ever Emmy for her role as Sofia Falcone on HBO’s crime-drama The Penguin, winning supporting actress in a movie or anthology series. Milioti gave an exuberant speech (written on the back of the notes she took in therapy) that had her exclaiming “I love acting so much! Wooo!”

And Einbinder won supporting actress in a comedy after coming up short on three previous nominations for her role as upstart comedian Ava Daniels in HBO’s Hacks. She said she had been leaning in to the go-home-empty narrative but “this is cool too. This is also punk rock.” In a rare political moment for winners Sunday night, she concluded her speech with “Go Birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine,” referring, in the first case, to her NFL team the Philadelphia Eagles.

But the ultimate veteran-newbie win came with the recently canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which after a decade on the air won its first-ever Emmy for talk series just eight months before it is set to close the curtains at at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Colbert, whose show’s cancelation may have been precipitated by President Donald Trump (and whose Emmy almost certainly was), got political, but only mildly, when in an effusive speech he said he had “never loved my country more” and urged the audience to “stay strong, be brave and if the elevator tries you bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.” As a presenter Colbert wryly referenced his cancelation. “While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” he said. Because I’ve got 200 very well-qualified candidates available tonight.”

The 66-year-old Dan Gilroy took writing in a drama series honor for his work on the anti-fascist Andor, also his first-ever Emmy after decades of screenwriting. “I want to thank the fans. They made a story about ordinary people fighting impossible odds possible,” he said, pointedly staying away in his speech from the very political themes his show makes so explicit.

Two other late bloomers also came up winners as veteran actress LaNasa scored her first-ever Emmy, a supporting actress in a drama prize for her role as tartly wise head nurse Dana Evans on The Pitt, delighting longtime fans of the actress and anyone who ever wondered if Jerry Seinfeld watched Melrose Place.

And Somebody, Somewhere co-star Jeff Hiller took home the prize for supporting actor in a comedy for his role as a good-hearted, occasionally sardonic fish out of water in Bridget Everett’s Kansas-set HBO dramedy.

“For the past 25 years I’ve been like ‘world, I want to be an actor’ and the world was like ‘maybe computers?’” the 49-year-old joked as he accepted his first-ever Emmy. (Actually he’s a former improv teacher.)

Proving that newbies can also come in fresh faces, teenage up-and-comer Owen Cooper won supporting actor in a limited series for his role as a troubled kid in Netflix’s toxic-manosphere exploration Adolescence. At 15 he is the youngest-ever male winner in any acting category.

“Standing up here, wow, is just so surreal,” the British actor said. He noted that he “started drama class a couple years back,” highlighting his youth. “I was nothing about three years ago, I’m here now,” he said.

One Emmys veteran did get her due as Einbinder’s Hacks co-star Jean Smart won lead actress in a comedy, her seventh Emmy of a long and illustrious career.

“You honor me so much,” said Smart, as the Deborah Vance actress paid homage to her HBO show’s cast and crew. “Let’s be good to each other; let’s just be good to each other,” she added, in what passed for a political plea (and, perhaps, a Charlie Kirk-assassination reference) on this Emmys night. Smart has won the award all four seasons the mentor-protege comedy has been on the air.

She was not the only veteran presence. In a delightful if unexpected nostalgia play, Reba McEntire led a rendition of the Andrew Gold-penned, Cynthia Fee-performed “Thank You For Being a Friend” from The Golden Girls, complete with re-created South Florida kitchen.

One other stalwart that could not be unseated was Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. The deep-dive investigative comedy show took the top prize of scripted variety, making it the 10th year in a row the series has won the top late-night prize it was nominated for. Oliver stayed away from politics too, but later on, upon winning writing for a scripted variety show, one of the show’s writers noted that he was grateful for the honor for a late-night political satire series “while it’s still a type of show that is allowed to exist.”

One of the more political speeches came from someone who didn’t create any TV. Television Academy chair Cris Abrego noted that “in a time when division dominates the headlines, storytelling still has the power to unite us” and urged creators to make sure it remains “not a platform for the privileged but a public good for all.” And Mary Steenburgen, who won the Bob Hope Humanitarian award with husband Ted Danson, said that “The world’s a little out of balance right now. We don’t want to live in fear.”

Overall, though, it was not a very political night, as Hollywood amid its celebration of The Studio mainly turned its attention inward. An SNL-style cold open kicked off the Emmys with host Nate Bargatze playing a scientist inventing television and explaining to his assistants what its future will look like. (“What is streaming sir?” “A new way for companies to lose money.”) The sketch also made the requisite joke about The Bear not being a comedy and noted that there will one day be “a world where the finest artists create stories of staggering beauty that millions of people will watch —on their phone while sitting on the toilet.”

In a poignant moment Phylicia Rashad honored her late The Cosby Show co-star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, introducing an In Memoriam segment that featured Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson dueting on Gill’s 1994 afterlife homage Go Rest High On That Mountain.

Bargatze tried to incentivize shorter speeches by saying he’ll deduct from and add to a $100,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club of America based on whether acceptance speeches went under or above 45 seconds. Oliver spoke super-fast to get the number up; Einbinder apologized for going long and said she’d make up the difference. The effect was to move the show along but cut down on the possibility of viral speeches. Ultimately, Bargatze and CBS kicked in a much higher sum totaling a $350,000 donation.

Generally the night had a polite, courteous tone far more than one of fire and activism. “I don’t know what to say,” Rogen said upon winning the acting award. “This is so nice. I appreciate you all.”