Primetime Emmy Awards: The best, worst, and weirdest moments

It’s been an interesting week for award show hosts. Jo Koy’s monologue left a lot to be desired at the Golden Globes, while Chelsea Handler performed quite well at the Critics Choice. Meanwhile, Anderson opted for a relatively subpar music tribute for his opening act. What made it weird, however, was his mother disrupting his speech and using the phrase “Time’s Up” to shut him up, an eyebrow-raising choice of words in light of . To make things weirder, Anderson kept making his mother a scapegoat as the ceremony continued, inserting her into jokes (at one point, she accidentally referred to Harrison Ford as Henry Ford). Although we’re glad she hushed him from talking about how that latex suit made him feel “moist.” Is weird necessarily the right word for his schtick? No, but we’ll go with it for now.

Quinta Brunson made history with her win for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for Abbott Elementary, becoming only the second Black actress to win the award. Isabel Stanford won the honor in 1981 for The Jeffersons. That’s a long gap, and we hope it’s not repeated, but kudos to Brunson for her well-deserved victory. It was an even sweeter win because she was handed the trophy by comedy legend Carol Burnett. All this must’ve piled up emotionally for Brunson, who was teary on stage and spoke straight from the heart. Nothing’s better than a victory speech that feels so genuine it makes you cry, too.

2023 was a landmark year for Hollywood’s labor movement, thanks to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. But you wouldn’t know it from the 75th Emmy Awards, which were delayed for months because of the dual strikes. The only winner to acknowledge the strikes was Sofia Manfredi, while accepting the writing award for Last Week Tonight. Their category wasn’t going to be originally televised, a decision that was met with uproar and forced the Television Academy to reverse course.

Travis Barker on stage at the Emmys is what many will dub as a “jump scare,” and you know what? They’ll be correct. The Blink-182 drummer showed up during Anderson’s monologue to help him on a rendition of Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight during a bit referencing Miami Vice. It wasn’t necessarily a bad surprise, but it was random.

The less said about Dahmer the better, but it did lead to Niecy Nash-Betts’ surprise win. The actor nabbed the trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. While she started by emotionally thanking everyone, the best moment of her speech arrived when she thanked herself. “I’m a winner, baby…” and “I want to thank me for believing in me” should honestly be everybody’s life motto. Betts has been an incredible performer for years, so it’s cool to see her talent acknowledged. Plus, her win adds to an incredible roster of Black stars shining at the Emmys this year, including Ayo Edebiri, Brunson, Trevor Noah, and RuPaul.

It didn’t seem like Paul Walter Hauser was ready for his category to be announced. The Black Bird star, who won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for the Apple TV+ show, was eating when he was called as the winner. Hauser was chewing pretty much throughout his speech, but that didn’t prevent him from reciting a lengthy, lively poem, which included a heartfelt note to his wife, and his co-stars.

The talented cast of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia jokingly proved that there should be more dissing on the Emmys stage. Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito showed up to present an award, but ended up reminding TV Academy voters that their brilliant FXX comedy has been on for 16 seasons without a nomination. DeVito, however, helpfully reminded his co-stars that he does have an Emmy for Taxi.

Let’s look at the shows that mostly swept in every category: Succession for drama, The Bear for comedy, and Beef for limited series. As great as they are, they aren’t the only phenomenal shows on TV. Where’s the love for Barry and Better Call Saul? Let alone stuff like Bad Sisters, Reservation Dogs, The Great, Somebody Somewhere, and more? When nominations were announced last year, ! After this year’s ceremony failed to spread the love, that sentiment still holds.