LOS ANGELES: Comedian Seth Rogen and the “Hacks” duo of Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder won Emmy Awards on Sunday as Hollywood celebrated TV series about the pressures of show business.
Rogen, star of “The Studio,“ was named best comedy actor for his role as a nervous movie executive who juggles his desire to make prestigious films with corporate demands for profits. It was Rogen’s first Emmy.
“I literally prepared nothing. I have never won anything,“ an exuberant Rogen, who co-created the show, said as he held his trophy on stage in downtown Los Angeles. “This is really just so lovely. I don’t know what to say.”
Smart and Einbinder won comedy actress and supporting comedy actress awards for “Hacks,“ the story of a septuagenarian comedian who clashes with the network running her late-night show.
The award was Smart’s fourth Emmy for the “Hacks” role and the first for Einbinder despite three previous nominations. Einbinder said she had convinced herself that “it was cooler to lose.”
“This is cool, too,“ she said with a smile, before ending her speech with “Free Palestine.”
In a surprise, Jeff Hiller landed best supporting comedy actor for the HBO show “Somebody Somewhere.” Hiller thanked HBO executives for “putting sweaty, middle-aged people on the same network as the sexy teens of ‘Euphoria.’”
Fifteen-year-old Owen Cooper was named best supporting actor in a limited series for “Adolescence”, making him the youngest winner in the category.
The English actor said he started taking drama classes a couple years back. “If you listen and you focus and step out of your comfort zone, you can achieve,“ Cooper said. “I was nothing three years ago.”
“Severance,“ the absurdist workplace tale from Apple TV+ , was the favorite for the night’s top award of best drama. The show centers around corporate employees who undergo a surgery that separates their work and personal memories.
The Emmys ceremony was streamed live on CBS.
Comedian and first-time host Nate Bargatze offered an incentive for the night’s winners to keep their speeches short. He promised a $1,000 donation to charity but warned he would reduce the amount each time a speaker exceeded their allotted 45 seconds.
“It’s brutal,“ Bargatze joked. “It’s a game I made up and these are the rules.”
Among the night’s other nominees, “The Penguin,“ starring Colin Farrell as a gangster in the DC Comics universe, was competing for best limited series against Netflix hit “Adolescence” and others.
Noah Wyle was in the running for his first Emmy since 1999 for his role as an emergency room doctor on “The Pitt.” Wyle was nominated five times for “ER” but never won.
Winners were chosen by the roughly 26,000 performers, directors, producers, and other members of the Television Academy – REUTERS
