You may have tuned into the Emmys on Monday to see if “The Pitt,” “Widow’s Bay” or other “must binge” favorites triumphed on television’s biggest night (spoiler: they did!). But in between the speeches and host Mariska Hargitay‘s scripted bits, there’s a lot that the cameras didn’t catch. So, we’re taking you inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles where it all happened and where our fearless team was stationed on the red carpet and in the telecast audience.
From the moments that got bleeped to the TV anthems that regaled the crowd during commercial breaks, here’s what’s it like to be a fly on the wall as the television industry salutes itself.
Keep It Short and Sweet
Eschewing the norm of a comedy bit from a funny television figure striking fear into any nominee considering going over their allotted time limits for acceptance speeches, the Television Academy opted to have its leader Cris Abrego be the sole person to come on stage and beg an unruly crowd to quiet down and find their seats. That is until choreographer and producer Eboni Nichols popped up from behind the stage to coax Colman Domingo (and the rest of the audience inside the Peacock Theater) to dance along to host Mariska Hargitay’s opening number parodying “I Love Rock n Roll.” “You’ll recognize the music,” Nichols said, while urging the A-listers to “stand on your feet, clap, dance, sing along, have a wonderful time.”
What John Mulaney Said That Got Bleeped
In an extended presentation for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series category, Emmy-winning comedian John Mulaney went on a tangent about masculinity that included quotes from the memoir of “The Sopranos” and “Goodfellas” tough guy Frank Vincent and a joke about how Fonzie announced the Kennedy assassination, becoming the first “man” to appear on TV. You heard all that, but here’s what the censors weren’t laughing about. Mulaney got bleeped for quoting DJ Khaled. “Real men don’t go down on their wives,” the comic intoned. “That’s BS,” he declared in defense of cunnilingus to roars of approval from the crowd. ‘There’s often less pressure on them if they do that first,” he added.
Profile in Courage
While there was enough standing in the orchestra to fill the camera frame for moments like “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” winning Outstanding Variety Series for its final season, the true unforgettable “Emmys moment” that got even those in the nosebleeds out of their seats was Michael J. Fox appearing onstage to accept the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. Fox’s moving speech paid tribute to Hope’s commitment to entertaining the troops and documented his own journey to becoming an advocate for Parkinson’s research (currently $1 billion raised and counting). That unforgettable tribute to one of Hollywood’s true heroes more than made up for the awkward moment of the Emmy team sneaking one last rehearsal of Fox’s career reel in the corner of the stage during a commercial break an hour before he was honored.
Hollywood’s Questionable Listening Skills
To give the audience inside the Peacock Theater the benefit of the doubt, there was an entire segment on Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara, with speeches from her onscreen “children” Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy, and Dan Levy, in between the standard request to hold applause until the end of the In Memoriam segment and the tribute reel actually starting. Still, much of the audience ended up committing the big no-no of picking and choosing whom to clap for and whom to greet with stony silence. Recent deaths like Dolly Parton and Hayden Panettiere even received incongruous cheers as folk singer Noah Kahan performed a somber rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” (We guess people grieve in different ways?) The way everything ended also confused the audience. After presenter Jamie Lee Curtis acknowledged late director James Burrows, the screen revealed that there was one more tribute. Curtis pivoted abruptly to eulogize her “The Bear” co-star Rob Reiner. Though initially jarring, those final moments, shepherded by Curtis, were a heart-wrenching send-off to a legend.
Stay Tuned for a Musical Interlude
One of the best Emmy traditions not shown during the telecast is the speaker blasting a playlist of random TV theme songs during the commercial breaks. Some highlights from this year include the themes to “Boy Meets World,” ”Modern Family,” “The White Lotus,” “Jeopardy,” “Big Brother,” “The Good Place,” “Moesha,” “Entourage,” “Suits,” and, of course, “Law & Order.” What better way to tip the cap to Hargitay’s superlative hosting than with the show’s signature “dun-dun”?
