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

There’s no one like , who made the 75th Emmy Awards one of her first public appearances since being diagnosed with M.S. Not only did Applegate look radiant, but she proved that she remains a comedy icon with her one-liners (“Body not by Ozempic”). While Applegate briefly referenced her TV appearances, from Samantha Who to Dead To Me, she became understandably emotional after a well-deserved standing ovation. There’s no better way to kick off the ceremony.

Imagine experimenting with a (pretty terrible) bit during Jennifer Coolidge’s acceptance speech. Yeah, it did not go well. Coolidge, who won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for The White Lotus, had barely started talking when she started getting cut off. And it wasn’t even by an annoying teleprompter or an in-house orchestra. Instead, host Anthony Anderson tried a weird bit via his mom (sorry to her!), who stood up in the audience holding a poorly-made fake clock, trying to rush Coolidge off the stage. No one needs to be stopping Coolidge, especially not when she’s thanking the evil gays.

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.

With John Oliver out of the way, Trevor Noah won Outstanding Talk Series for The Daily Show. But the highlight of the acceptance speech didn’t come from Noah, but from Roy Wood Jr., who slyly mouthed “Please hire a host.” He’s not wrong, people. Comedy Central should’ve simply hired him for the gig months ago. (FYI: ).

As a Grey’s Anatomy stan from the beginning, this writer was overjoyed to see five original cast members come together at the Emmys. To mark the Emmys’ 75th year, the TV Academy masterminded various reunions to warm our cold, dead hearts. From Martin to Cheers to The Sopranos, it was just lovely to see familiar faces again. Not everyone aced it as well as Calista Flockhart dancing to the tune of Ally McBeal, and many of these appearances just left us wanting more, but the mission was mostly accomplished.

Beef’s Ali Wong broke barriers with her win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. She’s the first female actor of Asian descent to ever win in a leading category. Isn’t it bonkers it took so long to get here? Sandra Oh has been nominated three times for a drama series, and Shōgun’s Yôko Shimada was nominated in 1981. 

When The Television Academy’s Frank Scherma arrived on stage, there was no telling how the next few minutes would pass. He was apparently there to introduce a video clip to mark 75 years of the Television Academy, or the Emmys, or something along those lines. The footage mixed random moments from the small screen, including Ellen DeGeneres coming out of the closet on her show, Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, scenes from The Simpsons and Breaking Bad, Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, the closing moments of The Sopranos series finale, and, even 9/11.

As brief as it was, how fun was it to see Amy Poehler and Tina Fey come together for a Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” segment? They crushed the quick revival while announcing the nominees for Outstanding Variety Special. Poehler got in a Mean Girls dig in while talking about the Tony Awards’ nomination, saying they’re “” Fey stood up for herself with a sly line referencing her latest version of Mean Girls. It was a great reminder that Parks And Rec and 30 Rock are also sorely missed.

This face Kieran Culkin is making? It’s the type of wide smile you give when a) You’ve finally won the goddamn Emmy and b) You get a coveted kiss from daddy. The actor, who crushed it with his performance in Succession’s final season, took home the gold. Instead of his usually sarcastic speeches, as seen during the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards this week, Culkin was sincere and sweet. He not only thanked his wife but made it clear he wanted a third child (!). Best of all, before he went up on stage, he snagged a quick kiss on the lips from co-star and fellow nominee Brian Cox—and even Culkin seemed shocked that he got away with it.

As The Bear’s cast and crew assembled on stage to accept Outstanding Comedy Series, Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach grabbed his co-star, Matty Matheson, and went for it. No, like, really went for it. Their big kiss on the lips delighted everyone standing behind them onstage, and spurred a lot of tweets as well.

It’s heartbreaking to see Better Call Saul, one of the best TV shows of the 21st century, end its six-season run with zero Emmy wins from a total of 53 nominations. Once again: The voters need to watch all the great stuff that airs to make the Emmys feel worthwhile.