There was lots to digest throughout Sunday night time’s Emmys telecast, particularly that telling twist of Hacks snagging greatest comedy over The Bear, however what occurred off digital camera proved far more illuminating. We had been there to chronicle the entire confusion, ring-kissing and sloppy standing ovations — in addition to that mass exodus for the foyer bar.

The Schadenfreude Is Actual

There was nothing fallacious with Eugene and Dan Levy’s internet hosting job or monologue. That stated, the room was noticeably hungry for some snark — as evidenced by the large chortle Eugene obtained when he stated, “within the spirit of The Bear, we won’t be making a joke about it being a comedy.” It actually hit higher than every other punchline of the night time — and proved fairly prophetic when TV Academy voters had been revealed to have picked joke-joke-joke comedy Hacks over the reigning restaurant dramedy through the night time’s last award. Some had been pissed, many had been thrilled, and the coup discovered its approach into each after-party dialog.

Um, The place Was Everyone?

Discover any empty seats on TV? It wasn’t for a scarcity of attendees. The orchestra stage was booked stable however increasingly company stored drifting off to the foyer bar — the place they had been left to spend practically $20 for tepid cans of beer and surprise what was occurring on stage since there weren’t any TVs enjoying the simulcast. One attendee who deserted their alternative seat up entrance detailed being scolded for getting up half-way via the present. Apparently, producers had been operating low on seat fillers because the exodus gained momentum.

A Excessive-Profile Energy Date

Seeing who’s really spending time collectively earlier than and after the cameras roll is 98 p.c of the enjoyable of attending these items. So, for the trade’s many tea leaf readers, it’s value noting that Disney CEO Bob Iger arrived on the carpet with potential successor Dana Walden and her associate/movie counterpart Alan Bergman. (Jimmy Kimmel, who declined each the Emmy and Oscar internet hosting gig this yr, arrived in the identical wave.) Iger and Walden had been collectively once more on the Disney afterparty, receiving expertise together with winner Jeremy Allen White and nominee Lily Gladstone, who each got here to kiss the respective rings.

Nostalgia, Like Any Drug, Can Be Abused

If solid reunions and a parade of legends made the primary 2024 Emmys a hit, nostalgia was an overplayed hand this second go round. Visitors had been subjected to a marathon of TV theme songs throughout industrial breaks and, on stage, gatherings of The West Wing and Comfortable Days solid members obtained little enthusiasm from the group. (The SNL foursome proved the exception, probably on the deserves of their very sharp mockery of boss Lorne Michaels.) However what prompted precise confusion was the pseudo reunions from character sorts like “TV dads,” “TV legal professionals” and “TV cops.” “It’s not like they even booked the actors most synonymous with these roles,” snarked one nominee simply after the ceremony. “And, oh yeah, let’s rejoice one thing all of us can agree on: our love of cops.”

No person Ever Stated Drag Was Straightforward

Talking of committing to the bit… Should you had been questioning who was carrying that full-body, face-covering neon yellow bodysuit, it was RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 winner Nymphia Wind. (She was dressed as a banana, which made extra sense earlier than she dropped the peels.) Nicely, in the event you had been additionally questioning if she may breathe properly beneath that masks, the reply is “no.” Wind was seen continually pulling off the face masks to gasp for air, finally retreating to the foyer bar with the remainder of the queens. The Drag Race delegation is often a rowdy bunch, however the finish of the present’s successful streak clearly deflated that this yr.

Ramy Youssef, Buddy to Everybody

Youssef was out within the foyer shortly earlier than his class, directing in a comedy, was known as — solely to be let again in simply in time. Whereas he didn’t win for helming his episode of The Bear, he was again in his seat, instantly behind winner Chris Storer, to dole out a hug after Storer’s title was known as. Youssef obtained his personal hug from SNL’s Bowen Yang moments later and was seen enthusiastically gland-handing extra company within the aisles than arguably every other expertise within the room.

Think about His Enthusiasm Curbed

Technically, no person noticed Larry David off of TV both. The Curb Your Enthusiasm star was the lone comedy actor nominee not current within the viewers when his class was known as and finally gained by Jeremy Allen White. However what makes David’s placeholder so odd is that the famously awards present averse creator was really on the circuit this weekend. He and his spouse had been hanging out on the WME pre-Emmy get together not 48 hours earlier than. That should have been sufficient for the social butterfly.

Standing O Syndrome

Comedy actress winner Jean Good acquired the night time’s first standing ovation, attributable to each her spectacular, decades-long profession and her latest trauma (together with a coronary heart process that delayed her third Emmy win for Hacks). However the viewers was in any other case stingy with the seat-rising till that final hour when sitting down for the announcement of a reputation grew to become the least widespread incidence. First, it was Jodie Foster. Shogun winners Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai would get ones later within the night. By the point Hacks took house greatest comedy, it was laborious to inform if folks had been standing for the present, their want for circulation or the will to get the hell out of the Peacock Theater.