On Sunday night, Jimmy Kimmel brought his approachable and honest brand of comedy to the Emmy stage once again. He rode in on Khalessi’s dragon, after opening with an ode to some of this year’s favorite shows, which included an appearance by Jeb Bush. While brief, his monologue was still able to nail Hollywood’s lack of diversity, Donald Trump, and Maggie Smith, of all people. Later on, Kimmel’s mother even made PB&J’s for the audience which were passed put by the kids from Stranger Things. Kimmel fans also loved when the Jimmy Kimmel vs. Matt Damon feud continued live on stage. Damon came out to make fun of Kimmel for losing Best Variety and exited with his famous Good Will Hunting lines, “How you like them apples?”
Rewinding to before the show started, stars like actress/singer Taraji P. Henson shimmered in yellow on the red carpet. A pregnant Kerry Washington stunned in a floorlength black cutout gown. And of course, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were #BFFGoals as they stepped out wearing matching green dresses.
This year, expectations were set high for TV shows such as The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Game of Thrones, and Empire.
Beginning with the awards in the Comedy department, the lovely and hilarious Kate McKinnon took home her first Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Saturday Night Live. Julia Louis-Dreyfus also received the award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for VEEP. During her speech, Louis-Dreyfus took “responsibility” for the current political climate for making a satirical show that now “feels like a sobering documentary.” Most of the speeches during the night similarly stouched on important issues in Hollywood and across the country. Jeffery Tambor won Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Transparent and gave a poignant, heartfelt speech about transgender talents in Hollywood. Laverne Cox and Jill Soloway also used their time on stage to advocate for acting roles for transgender people.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story was clearly the favorite of the night, taking home the most awards. Sterling K. Brown, Sarah Paulson, and Courtney B. Vance won for their roles on the series. Sarah Paulson was accompanied by the woman she portrayed in the series, Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutting attorney on the O.J. Simspon trial.
In the Drama category, two newbies won awards. Rami Malek took home his first Emmy for his role in Mr. Robot, which he accepted with a humbling speech. Also, Tatiana Maslany won her first Emmy for Orphan Black. And unsurprisingly, Game of Thrones won for the Best Drama Series.
The real fun happened in between the awards ceremonies during the night. From SNL star Leslie Jones coming out with the Emmy accountants to get the last laugh after her Twitter hacking, to John Mayer leading the house band, the Emmy’s was packed with entertaining performances. Aziz Ansari even tackled Donald Trump’s platform on Muslim Americans and immigrants, when he was presenting an award.
Overall, the 2016 Emmy awards went smoothy, unfortunatlely without many #OMG moments for us to make memes about today!