It’s always fun to be in the press room backstage at the Emmys and talk to the newly-minted winners, who are still stunned and euphoric and not entirely coherent. For an instant, they get to gloat, before pretending once again that the real honor is just being mentioned alongside their fellow nominees.
So it was with the 2012 Primetime Emmys, where a slew of winners from Homeland, Modern Family, and other acclaimed shows got to strut their stuff and wave their trophies for a moment. Celebuzz TV Editor Jethro Nededog was there in the press room on Sunday night, and here are ten of the most memorable things he heard the victorious stars say in their first moments of dazed joy.
Read on for the backstage reactions of Jon Cryer, Claire Danes, Louis C.K., Sofia Vergara, and others.
“Thank God, I’m not giving birth right now. I think it will be some time before my child cares at all about this, if ever. It’s great. It does put things in perspective a little bit, but this is very nice. This person [she points at her belly] may not care, but I do.” — Claire Danes, asked how she’ll tell her unborn child about her Emmy win
“I’m as shocked as you people. That’s why my speech sucked. I thought that Jim Parsons was going to win again. Clearly, Big Bang [Theory] is at the top of its game right now. Unfortunately, he hasn’t gotten any worse right now. He’s still wonderful and I thought this would go to him. I did not for a minute think this was going to happen. So, I apologize for my speech.” — Jon Cryer, on his upset victory
“Why? Because I’m better than I was before. And hopefully I’ll be better later, too. Hopefully, what I’m doing now will be considered not really that good. Whenever you leave behind failure, that means you’re doing better. If you think everything you’ve done has been great, you’re probably dumb. So, I just keep trying to get better. It’s fun to keep trying…. I’m older, too, now. Older people are smarter and funnier.” — Louis C.K., on why Louie has succeeded where his previous shows failed
“You know, I was expecting a little more hostility, to be honest. I still get jokes going through security at airports, ‘Do you have a vest on?,’ you know from security guards. Again, I hark back to Band of Brothers. There’s two people out there that think I won the Second World War. So, and now they think I want to blow everybody up. People build really close relationships with TV characters. They blur reality and fiction quite often. I think that will always be the case.” — Damian Lewis, on whether fans mistake him for his would-be suicide bomber character from Homeland
“The one thing I left out in my acceptance speech is I wanted to give a shout out to two women who work in television who were incredibly influential to me in the election. That’s Tina Fey and Katie Couric. I think, certainly in my research, I saw how influential they were. So, I’m sorry that I forgot to say that tonight. I really am.” — Julianne Moore, on those she failed to thank for their influence on her Emmy-winning portrayal of Sarah Palin in Game Change
“High out of the reach of my son Oliver who broke the first one.” — Julie Bowen, asked where she’ going to put her statuette.
“It’s going to get pretty violent, I’m sure. I’m sure Ed [O’Neill] is going to do his Brazilian ninjitsu on me and steal it.” — Eric Stonestreet, on bringing his trophy back to the Modern Family set
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t think that’s what our fans want. It’s not going to be a fairytale ending. I hope Jesse survives. I think he deserves to survive. But, I’ll see.” — Aaron Paul, asked if he’d be disappointed if Breaking Bad wrapped with a happy ending
“I would say this is a hell of a lot of good fortune. I’m particularly moved to get this for a third series that I’ve done. It’s just, I mean, I need an Advil. I have a headache. I can’t believe it. I’m very thrilled and moved.” — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on having won Emmys for three different series
“When I hear our names, I can’t believe I’m living this dream here in this country. And to be able to have a show like this and my work to be playing with these people, I mean playing my character, I mean it’s a dream. So even though Julie [Bowen] keeps winning all my awards, I am still very happy and I will still keep coming.” — Sofia Vergara, on what Modern Family’s Best Comedy Series win means to her
