It was that time of year again, the Emmy Awards was back on Sunday night – albeit, with a Covid twist. Host Jimmy Kimmel took to the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of rows of empty seats; there was no red carpet and instead winners accepted awards virtually via video feeds from their homes. We kinda loved this new style! From a Friends reunion to breaking records (yep we’re talking about you, Zendaya) here were some of our favourite moments from TVs big night across the pond.
Jimmy Kimmel’s pandemmies jokes
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It would be wrong of us not to give an appreciative nod to Jimmy Kimmel’s punny one-liners. His first lines when something like this: “Welcome to the pandemmies! You can’t have a virus without a host.” LOL. Kimmel later added: “It might seem frivolous and unnecessary to do this during a global pandemic. But you know what else seems frivolous and unnecessary? Doing it every other year.”
The camera swept across the famous faces in the audience laughing away – except, of course, it was all old footage from previous years. The producers cut to a shot of row after row of empty seats, with nominated performers embodied by cardboard cutouts — and Ozark star Jason Bateman in one of the seats pretending to be frozen in place.
Jennifer Aniston made an excellent firefighter
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Jennifer Aniston was one of the few celebs who appeared in person with Jimmy during the awards. She was the opening presenter and as Kimmel sanitised the first award (which Jen announced was to Catherine O’Hara for her performance in Schitt’s Creek) he then threw the envelope in a bin and set it alight. Jen then tackled the blaze with a fire extinguisher, so casual, before the pair continued to host. Jen was then urged to get home in time for her category to be announced – she was nominated for best actress in a drama series.
There was a mini-Friends reunion
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A few hours after their opening appearance together, Kimmel checked in on Jennifer Aniston via video link and it turned out she was spending the rest of the evening with her old Friends crew in her LA home. Courteney Cox suddenly gate-crashed the pair’s chat and telling Kimmel. “Of course I’m here. We live together,” with Jen adding, “Yeah we’ve been roommates since 1994.” Then Lisa Kudrow walked into shot and joked: “Hey, is this live TV?” Jimmy then asked Lisa if she lived with Jen too, with her replying: “Yeah, where else would I live?”
Zendaya smashed records
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During the evening, Zendaya became the youngest Emmy winner for Lead Actress in a Drama, for her role in Euphoria, beating some seriously big names including Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Olivia Colman (The Crown) and Laura Linney (Ozark).
When her name was called, she said to the camera, “I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there. I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that, but there is hope in the young people. And I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”
Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington threw a New Year’s Eve party
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For The Little Fires Everywhere co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, the Emmy’s 2020 turned out to be an excellent evening for a New Year’s Eve bash. The duo decided to theme theirs on a 2021 partay, with sunglasses, hats and the like. Reese told Kimmel: “We’re ready for this year to be over” with Kimmel replying, “You can do that? You could just end the year?” Reese replied, “Well, yeah, I mean, we’re Emmy-nominated television producers.”
Schitt’s Creek scooped win after win
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If you haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek yet, after the amount of gongs they received last night, you probably don’t need any more convincing. The slightly absurd comedy that went from cult favourite to mainstream success over six seasons, swept all the major comedy categories, walking away with the best comedy series trophy, as well as six other prizes.
The four leads — Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy — all nabbed awards for their performances on the show, which follows a formerly wealthy family forced to pack its bags and move to a small town. They all gathered together for a viewing party in Toronto in formal wear and seemed genuinely shocked at the awards they gathered by the end of the evening.