Only at the Emmys can you catch a glimpse of TV producer and writer Mike Schur talking in the main aisle of the Peacock Theatre as a mass of people, including “Hacks” star Jean Smart and “Baby Reindeer” breakout Jessica Gunning, make their way past him to their seats. “I’m just trying to process all this,” Gunning tells us, not long before etching her own name on a statuette.
Headed to the bathroom? You’ll see Dulé Hill exchange hugs with “Palm Royale’s” Kristen Wiig and catch “Fellow Travelers” star Matt Bomer and “Shōgun’s” Nestor Carbonell, who won his first ever Emmy for guest actor in a drama at last week’s Creative Arts ceremony, catch up while fielding selfie requests from fan attendees looking to offer their praise of recent performances. Then an event staffer whips out a megaphone and declares: “The concession stands will close at 4:30! Get your snacks and go to your seats!” while “Saturday Night Live’s” Bowen Yang and “The Crown’s” Dominic West join the mass shuffle to get inside.
Inside the main room, a voice booms with instructions on time limits for speeches before the theme song from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” provides a soundtrack — and that’s all before the show even begins! In that spirit, Times staffers who were on the scene at the 2024 Emmys offer the highlights from the night you didn’t see on TV.
It was a golden night for golden girls: “The Bear” star Liza Colón-Zayas, a first-time winner, may be having her moment — but in the press room she emphasized, among other things, that she does “not have an expiration date.” It’s a message Colon-Zayas, 52; Smart, 73; and “True Detective: Night Country” lead Jodie Foster, 61, embodied as they accepted trophies for later-career projects on Sunday. Offscreen Smart — who received her award from Candice Bergen, Emmy legend in her own right — said she was grateful “that my career has been a very gradual kind of climb.” Even if she admits “I wouldn’t mind if it was a little faster.” —Alexandria Del Rosario
We had an in with an Emmy winner: If you’re an OG fan of “New Girl,” you’ve witnessed the elegance Lamorne Morris can bring to the stage (at a park). As Winston Bishop on the Fox comedy, Morris had the help of hand bells and gloves to demonstrate his grace and (comedic) power; on Sunday the actor had a heavier hand bell in tow: his first ever Emmy trophy, after scooping up a win for supporting actor in a limited series or movie for his role as reliable North Dakota Deputy Witt Far in the fifth season of Noah Hawley’s “Fargo.” We were lucky enough to spend the day with Morris as he readied for the big show at his Encino home. He was surrounded by friends and family, including his playful daughter, Lily, who had just celebrated her fourth birthday the previous night (“I had vanilla cake because now I’m 4,” she declared.) His mother, Gwennett, who flew in from Chicago for the occasion, was already beaming about the night ahead: “The ironic part of this whole thing — when I was young, I did drama class. But I quit. He followed through. He picked up where I couldn’t.”
Little did she know he’d be giving her a funny shout-out on national television as he gripped his trophy. “I keep thinking that someone’s going to run and steal this s— from me,” Morris said backstage following his win, according to my colleague Alexandra Del Rosario. “I just can’t believe it. I kinda spaced out for a while when they called my name.” The hustle doesn’t stop here, either. This week he starts work on Prime Video’s Marvel series “Spider-Noir,” led by Nicolas Cage; and Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” in which he plays original “SNL” cats member Garrett Morris, opens later this month. So how does he juggle it all? “You don’t,” Morris told The Times. “You just get off book. You memorize your lines, break down your character, and then when you get to set and you’re opposite Nic Cage in rehearsal, that might all go out the window.” And no, he doesn’t plan to break out a Cage impression. —Yvonne Villarreal
And learned more about the important message of a first-time nominee: You couldn’t miss the stark red handprint splayed across Indigenous actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai’s mouth when he arrived at the Emmys. Woon-A-Tai, who is Oji-Cree First Nations and Guyanese, was nominated for his first Emmy for the role of Bear Smallhill in the FX dramedy “Reservation Dogs,” which delves into the lives of young Native Americans in Oklahoma. The handprint, said Woon-A-Tai, represents, “missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit individuals.” Waiting in a line to get into the Governors Ball after the show, Woon-A-Tai explained a bit more. “We find that in North America, a lot of our sisters and relatives go missing at an alarming rate, and not often is it notified to the public or a priority to the police force.” The red color represents “the blood and violence against women and our Two Spirit relatives,” he said, and the palm print represents “shutting up our relatives.”
“It’s a problematic epidemic going on in our communities all over North America, and into South America as well, and it’s something that’s not brought up a lot, and nobody knows what it is, so this is what I’m wearing,” he said. —Jessica Gelt
Jon Stewart is man of the (press) people: “You need better lighting,” Stewart informed dozens of journalists in the press room when he and “The Daily Show” crew of producers and correspondents filed into the room following their win in the talk series category. “It’s inhumane, these conditions,” he jabbed about the dim lighting in the JW Marriott ballroom. “You are not animals!” Stewart, after musing on the 2024 presidential election and the potential of a Trevor Noah comeback (he joked “Am I being fired?!”), performed another wellness check on the press, asking about the snack situation. For curious readers, the press room spread included asparagus risotto, braised short rib, sliders and an array of sweets. —Del Rosario
Ad breaks are more fun inside the theater: If there were a Spotify playlist of the music playing between commercial breaks at the Emmys, it’d be a roundup of TV theme songs from TV shows like “Full House, “In Living Color” and “Little House on the Prairie.” While viewers at home were watching commercials for diapers and spaghetti sauce, the guests inside Peacock Theatre jumped up from their seats to buy $17 cocktails and frosty cans of Modelo beer in the lobby. Fiji water, Haribo gummies and popcorn were also on order. And if the background music made the dash to the lobby feel like a nostalgic wonderland, seeing Seth Meyers walking past “Dance Moms” personality Abby Lee Miller, in a sequined outfit, made it feel like a fever dream.
During one commercial break, “Only Murders in the Building” producer Dan Fogelman waited in the snaking concession line. A few feet away, “The Crown” star Jonathan Pryce watched as his date browsed a wall of drinks — a grab-and-go assortment of soda cans, water and alcoholic beverages. Pryce secured a grapefruit Paloma-flavored Absolut vodka can. A person might also rub elbows with Laura Dern trying to find her seat, or watch “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder wave to friends on her way down the aisle. It’s possible to enter a bathroom stall just vacated by “Fallout” star Ella Purnell and her silvery dress; or watch “Slow Horses” hacker Christopher Chung take selfies with fans in what appear to be velour bell bottoms. After three or four minutes, it’s game-on again, and the race back to the theater begins. If the doors close, you’re out in the cold until the next commercial break. —Jessica Gelt and Yvonne Villarreal
Winning takes it out of you: The Netflix miniseries “Baby Reindeer” staged an impressive near-sweep at the Emmys, with star and creator Richard Gadd nabbing three wins for his harrowing autobiographical story of being stalked by an unhinged and lonely woman. Onstage Gadd talked about being at his absolute lowest point in life a mere decade ago — a note not of arrogance, but of encouragement to anyone watching who happened to be going through a hard time. Things get better, Gadd said. Just hang in there.
Given Gadd’s (and the series’) Cinderella story, it wasn’t surprising to see him and co-star Jessica Gunning, who also took home an Emmy Sunday, looking dazed and overwhelmed while getting their trophies engraved at the Governors Ball. Camera flashes burst from all sides as Naomi Watts and her Emmy-winning husband Billy Crudup stood beside the “Baby Reindeer” stars, smiling and hoisting their statuettes. Later, Gadd dodged the spotlight, trying to get a moment to himself. Fans kept asking for selfies, press kept asking for interviews. “Thank you,” Gadd said, declining an interview. “But I think we’ve said enough tonight.” He looked exhausted and delirious. His dreams had come true, and it seemed almost too much to process. —Jessica Gelt