For the second year in a row, the outstanding comedy series award went to Veep, co-written by Thick of It writers Armando Iannucci and Sean Gray, while its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won outstanding lead comedy actress for the fifth time.
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Other big winners of the night included The People vs OJ Simpson – a dramatisation of the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s, which was broadcast on BBC Two in the UK.
When actor Sterling K. Brown accepted the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role as Chris Darden in “The People v. O.J. Simpson”, and quoting Jay Z in giving a shoutout to his wife Ryan Michelle Bathe by saying, “I got the hottest chick in the game rocking my chain”, it was a pretty sure bet that these Emmys were going to be a little different than what we were accustomed to. After thanking his laundry list, he ended his speech with a (rather odd) shoutout: “Obama out, Hillary in!” That gives it a total haul over the years of 38 – more than any other narrative series since the first Television Academy prize-giving in 1949, overtaking the haul of 37 won by long-running comedy Frasier.
Game of Thrones has won the best drama award at the 2016 Emmy Awards, although its stars failed to win any of their five acting nominations. The series already became the most-honoured drama series after picking up nine Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony last weekend.
Tatiana Maslany seems to be the one who is generating most of the shocked buzz – that could just be the cone of Canadian pride – but Rami Malek is no less a victor that you can’t picture the Emmys making any year before this one.
The People v. O.J. Simpson, however, did not clean up, with Susanne Bier beating it out in the directing category for The Night Manager, with the statuette being handed to her, coincidentally, by the series’ star, Tom Hiddleston (who arrived without ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift, end of Hiddleswift).
House of Cards star Kevin Spacey, who has never won an Emmy, missed out again for outstanding actor in a drama, which went to Rami Malek, the star of cyberspace security thriller Mr. Robot.
He told the audience: “Thank you to the BBC who we love above all bakery”.
Writing for a Comedy Series: Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari, “Master of None”.
Host Jimmy Kimmel joked during his opening monologue that the veteran actress should have made an effort to be at the event, having not attended in previous years either.
Not only did Kimmel’s mom make everyone PB&J, she also penned each award nominee a personalized note.
In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus said: “Our show started out as political satire but now feels like a sobering documentary”.
“So, I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it”.
“I would like to dedicate this to my father who passed away on Friday, and I’m so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered”, she said in an emotional tribute, her voice breaking.
He called for Hollywood to make him the last non-transgender actor to get such a role.
The show’s creator, Jill Soloway, won for directing a comedy series.
Ben Mendelsohn of “Bloodline” and Maggie Smith of “Downton Abbey” cornered the Best Supporting Actor and Actress award in the Best Drama Series at the award gala. It was her third win for playing the formidable dowager.
Meanwhile, versatile, go-for-broke “Saturday Night Live” amusing lady Kate McKinnon also won her first Emmy for best supporting comedic actress.
“To you producers and network owners and agents, please give transgender talents a chance”, he said.
John Oliver received the best variety talk series award for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”. Television has been doing a much better job than mainstream film at representing the diversity of the real world; and thankfully, Emmy voters took notice.
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“Sherlock” was named Best Made for TV Movie for its special episode “The Abominable Bride”.
