September 22, 2008
Comedy Dominates the Emmys
Shows that Have Laughs, Last
Comedy ruled at last night's Emmy awards. I'm not talking about the success of 30 Rock, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or even Don Rickles. All of them won their categories, of course, but those categories are specifically designated for comedy. Thus, their presence doesn't indicate anything out of the ordinary. What was notable, however, was the degree to which the stated Emmy theme (looking back at great moments in television) directed its attentions primarily towards sitcoms.
One of the ways in which the show acknowledged influential moments, for example, was to display sets from famous shows. Martin Sheen spoke from The West Wing set, but the rest were sets from comedies: Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Laugh-In, M*A*S*H, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show were all honored. Presenters such as Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mary Tyler Moore (of Seinfeld and MTM respectively) strengthened the connections. Throughout the show there were clips of celebrities saying famous catchphrases, and most of these were also from comedy: Dame Helen Mirren saying "...to the moon, Alice!" was pretty surreal, as was the "Sock it to me" montage; Tina Fey pulling her ear a la Carol Burnett was quite a nice touch. Finally, the majority of the 30 themes sung by Josh Groban were from sitcoms. Enough said: despite the current trend for serious drama, the Academy remembers comedies as having the most memorable moments in television.
It was also interesting to see how comedy and politics came together when Steve Martin presented an honorary award to Tommy Smothers. Smothers removed his name from the list of Smothers Brothers writers in 1968 because it was too politically charged. The writers won without him, but the Academy decided to retroactively recognize Smothers' contribution this year. Smothers gave a surprisingly serious acceptance speech, lambasting "ignorance in action", expressing his admiration for "those who won't shut up and refuse to be silent", and praising truth as a universal human value. No one could have explained the power of political comedy better, and I think even Stephen Colbert was tearing up by the end of the speech.
Off-the-cuff jokes are some of my favorite moments at any awards show, and there were a few zingers last night. Jeremy Piven echoed the sentiments of many viewers when he made a snarky remark about the lame opening act (note for future shows: reality hosts cannot do improv). Paul Giamatti made one of the best jokes of the evening as he was accepting the Outstanding Lead Actor award for his performance in John Adams. "For any kids watching at home," he said, "this is proof that anyone can play the president. Anyone." The telecast cut off what looked like another joke in progress, when John Adams writer Kirk Ellis said, "John Adams lived in a time when articulate men articulated coherent sentences..." That was obviously a dig at W, but they cut to commercial before we could even see the crowd's reaction, let alone what he was going to say next. Poor sportsmanship from CBS, especially given what Tommy Smothers had just said!
Ripping off Heidi Klum's tux was unnecessary and I was none to pleased with Conan O'Brien's cheap shot at Katherine Heigl--I'm not sure whether to blame him or the Emmy writers for that one. Otherwise It was a great night for women in television. Tina Fey dominated with two wins, three speeches, and words of encouragement for aspiring writers. After winning Oustanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Writer (both for Comedy Series), she spoke a third time when 30 Rock won for Outstanding Comedy Series. Alec Baldwin also thanked Fey in his acceptance speech and called her "the Elaine May of her generation." High praise indeed. Glenn Close got thunderous applause when she asserted that "complex, mature women are sexy...and can carry a show."
